the rime of the ancient mariner kubla khan

This relationship between nature and the spiritual world explains the terrible and supernatural reaction that the Mariner and his shipmates must face after he kills the albatross. Instead, the poem conceives of nature as being an expression of the spiritual world. The poem, though, does not only portray nature as a kind of passive elemental force that is too powerful for men to conquer. The poem demonstrates that contending with, merely surviving, or attempting to master nature are the wrong ways for humankind to approach the natural world. Nature is simply too powerful, as is evident when the sudden lack of wind strands the ship in desolate waters, and the Mariner and sailors begin to die of thirst. And, further, the poem depicts any attempt to master nature as pointless. In this light, the Mariner’s killing of the albatross can be seen as an attempt to master nature, to assert the power of man over the power of nature.īut the poem presents nature as more powerful, awe inspiring, and terrifying than man can comprehend.

Cast into the world, the Mariner must contend with nature in the form of violent storms and the dangerous sea, and he must survive the perils of the natural world. But when the Ancient Mariner imposes himself on the Wedding Guest and tells his story, the scene (and the Wedding Guest as audience) shift from comfortable civilization into nature, in this case aboard a ship sailing across the globe. The poem begins at the wedding feast, with the Wedding Guest observing and enjoying a quintessentially civilized setting in which nature is subdued. Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner fits into the Romantic tradition. Romantics valued emotion over reason, and they glorified and appreciated nature. Enlightenment philosophy esteemed reason above all else, and flourished in the 18th century, as well as contributed to the budding Industrial Revolution and the ways that growing industry and technology seemed to shift the balance in man’s relationship with nature. Coleridge was one of the founders of the Romantic movement, a literary movement that developed in the early 19th century in response to the Age of Enlightenment.

The rime of the ancient mariner kubla khan