Page 57 - DENG203_ELECTIVE_ENGLISH_IV

Elective English—IV

Notes heart “as dry as dust.” The Mariner shut his eyes as he was unable to stand the sight of the dead
men, who all stared at him with the malice of their final curse. The Mariner tolerated the sight
for seven days and seven nights, and yet he was still not able to die. Finally the moon rose,
forming the ship’s shadow across the waters. Where the great shadow of the ship touched the
waters, they burned red. Countless water snakes travelled through the silvery moonlight,
sparkling; green, blue and black, the snakes curled and swam and became beautiful in the
Mariner’s eyes. The Mariner then blessed these beautiful creatures in his heart and that very
moment, he discovered that he was able to pray, and the corpse of the Albatross fell from his
neck, falling “like lead into the sea.”

Task Recite the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The Mariner continues to tell his story to the Wedding-Guest. He says that after being freed from
the curse of the Albatross, the Mariner was finally able to sleep. As he did so, the rains came and
he got drenched in the rains. The moon came out making his way through the clouds. A host of
spirits got into the dead men’s bodies. These spirits began to move around and carry out their
old sailors’ jobs. The ship was pushed forward as the Mariner also joined in the work. The
Wedding-Guest again says that he is getting scared of the Mariner, but the Mariner again tells
the Wedding Guest that the men’s bodies were not occupied by cursed souls but by blessed
spirits. At dawn, the bodies gathered around the pole, and sweet sounds of the spirits leaving
their bodies rose up from their mouths. These spirits floated around the ship, singing like birds.
These spirits are similar to an entire symphony of voices. After dawn, these spirits stop singing
but the sails continuously make a pleasant sound like the sound of a stream following through
a forest. The ship continually flowed forward until noontime and the Mariner feels that someone
or something is moving the boat from underneath the ocean. He feels that the same spirit “nine
fathoms deep” that previously caused problems near the Arctic has now decided to guide the
ship up to the equator. At noon, though, the ship stopped, it then began moving backward and
forward as if it were stuck in a tug of war. Finally, the ship broke free, and the Mariner fell to the
deck with the shock of sudden speed and lost his consciousness. He heard two mysterious voices
in the air. One voice asked him if he was the man who killed the Albatross, and the other voice
stated gently that he had done penance for the crime he committed and would do more penance
before all was corrected.
The two voices seem to be talking to each other while discussing the situation. The two voices in
dialogue said that the moon overcame the sea, and allowed the ship to move. An angelic power
shifted the ship northward at an amazingly fast pace. When the Mariner woke up from his
trance, he saw all the dead sailors standing together, staring at him. A breeze rose up and pushed
the ship back to its native country, back to the Mariner’s home. The Mariner identified the
church, the hill, and the lighthouse. At this sight he was overwhelmed. The moonlight shined
brightly across the bay, but the Mariner saw another set of lights soon appears. He saw shapes
in “crimson” or red colours. As they reached closer to the bay, seraphs which are figures made
of pure light came out of the corpses of the other mariners, which fell to the deck. All seraphs
waved at the Mariner, who was strongly moved. Soon, the Mariner heard the sound of boat
nearing him and he sees oars; the Pilot, the Pilot’s son, and the holy Hermit rowing towards
him. The Mariner only expected that the Hermit will shrive (absolve) him of his sin, washing the
blood of the Albatross off his soul.

The Hermit, a holy man who resided in the woods and liked talking to sailors from strange
areas, had urged the Pilot and his son not to get scared and to row out to the ship. As soon as the
Pilot and his son reached the Sailor’s ship, the ship sank in an unexpected whirlpool, leaving the
Mariner floating and the Pilot’s rowboat spiralling in the wake. The Mariner was loaded

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