“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” 295Coleridge revised the poem numerous times;
the version in his 1817 collection Sibylline Leaves
included the marginal glosses and the scene of
Death and Life-in-Death. Like the Ancient Mari-
ner’s story, the poem continues to enthrall modern
readers, taking them on its journey of awe, horror,
and wonder. All the essays here refer to the 1817
version of the poem.
Jennie MacDonald
deatH in “The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner”
Readers are alerted to the looming presence of
death in the first line of “The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner.” Because the mariner is not merely old but
ancient, he is very near to death, nearer than the
young man he detains who is on his way to a wed-
ding. Not merely a ceremony, a wedding celebrates
the couple’s new life together and the births of
the children they presumably will have. Juxtapos-
ing the appearance of the Ancient Mariner to the
happy bride entering the chapel signals the conflict
between death and life and man’s position in relation
to both, throughout the poem.
The image of water as life-affirming, enabling
the ship on its voyage at the beginning of the mari-
ner’s tale, soon becomes an image of death. Driven
southward by a storm, the ship leaves behind the
beneficent Atlantic seas above the equator to become
hemmed in by Antarctic ice and fog that threaten to
destroy both men and ship. Later, freed from the ice
and aided by a “good south wind” (l. 87), they pass
into the Pacific Ocean, where things initially seem
promising, as “The fair breeze blew, the white foam
flew” (l. 103). Immediately, however, “Down dropt
the breeze” (l. 107), and the ship is becalmed. Not
only is the ship immobile, the men suffer in the heat
and from the maddening proximity of “Water, water,
every where, / Nor any drop to drink” (l. 122). Now,
the sea is figured as filled with death and rotting, and
a skeletal ship bearing Death itself sails with no wind
across the ocean. Although Death has until this point
been alluded to in other forms, here he is actually
personified and associated with the sea.
Death is also associated with “The Night-Mair
Life-in-Death... / Who thicks man’s blood with
cold” (ll. 193–194). Figured as a female to partner
Death, Life-in-Death wins the mariner in a game
of dice, and he looks on in horror as the rest of his
shipmates drop dead, each cursing him “with his
eye” (l. 215). One of those sailors is his own nephew,
whose death most probably ends the mariner’s fam-
ily line. Even worse is Life-in-Death’s curse, which
preserves the mariner from Death only to make him
suffer alone, to witness the reanimation of the dead
to operate the ship and later the death of the ship
itself. During his solitary vigil, he recognizes that
even the horrid creatures of the sea are God’s crea-
tures and blesses them, transforming evil into good.
His own perception changes as well, and this begins
the mariner’s process of redemption. In the end, the
sea, influenced by heavenly beings, will finally return
the mariner northward, where he will be rescued and
eternally compelled to tell the story of his sin and its
expiation.
The mariner’s great sin is his shooting of the
albatross, the seabird who accompanied the ship
through the ice and away from certain destruction.
The death of the bird is reflected in the becalm-
ing of the ship, the ceasing of the wind and of the
movement of the water, as well as the death of hope
among the men. The albatross is aligned with the
rest of God’s creatures. More important, it is aligned
with God himself when it blesses the mariner in
God’s name. Later, the spirits affirm, God “loved
the bird that loved the man / Who shot him with
his bow” (ll. 404–405). As Christ was hung on the
cross and his blood flowed for the absolution of
mankind, so the albatross is hung upon the mariner’s
neck until the man is absolved through suffering and
penance. The blood that signifies the death of the
albatross also signifies life, just as water embodies
both. Life and death are then coexistent.
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” creates life
from death, a story of redemption from a story of
senseless murder that is the sin of mankind. Begin-
ning with the death of the albatross through the
metaphorical rendering of death in natural forms,
particularly the sea, through to the actual represen-
tation of the entity of Death and his actions, the
poem offers images and concepts of life in its meta-
phorical and spiritual forms. But this redemption is
not complete, as the Ancient Mariner must continue