H/W 28th April 2017
Explore the ways in which religion is presented in ‘The Ancient Mariner’ and
one other poem.
One theme of ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ has been suggested to be religion, presenting
‘nothing less than the fall of man’. In this respect, some – Gavin McGann, for example – have argued
that this is a ballad reflecting the story of Christ’s salvation, whilst others have interpreted the theme
in a different way: a metaphor for the Original Sin of Adam and Eve. Religion is at the heart of the
poem, and focuses on the trials of man, showing a journey of sin, punishment, and eventual
redemption. Whilst religion isn’t as prominent in ‘Tintern Abbey’ as it is ‘The Ancient Mariner’, the
idea of nature does suggest spirituality and religious motifs, which has been interpreted with strong
emotions and possibly seen as an alternative to religion itself.
One way in which religion is presented consistently throughout the ‘Ancient Mariner’ poem, is
the Wedding-Guest and what he represents; marriage is known to be a Christian symbol of love and
of unity, and was widely accepted and important - due to its relation to the Church - during the late
eighteenth century, during the time of Romanticism and the publication of the book ‘Lyrical Ballads’.
The wedding is going on alongside the Mariner’s story, and could be seen to be representing love
and unity is the opposite of sin, which can be inferred by how Coleridge describes the bride as ‘Red
as a rise’, and uses the sound of ‘the loud bassoon’ to indicate the start of the wedding – both the
colour red and the volume of a bassoon are loud and bold, which could imply brightness and
happiness, a juxtaposing motif against the rime of the Mariner. However, the use of the colour red
may also be referencing the blood and darkness of Hell, shown by how the ‘bloody’ Sun was ‘all in a
hot and copper sky’. This implication of Hell comes just after the shooting of the bird, and so
therefore may be about how severe the Mariner’s offence is, being cursed ‘day after day, day after
day’. Whilst there was no thought of Hell in the poem ‘Tintern Abbey’, ‘five summers, with the
length of five long winters’ also emphasise that time has passed; the ‘long’ winters suggest that it
was not an easy five years, which could imply that despite it not being literal Hell, it was Hell for
Wordsworth nonetheless.
Also, the Wedding-Guest may be seen as a device to provide an incentive for the Mariner to tell
the story, which suggests how the suffering of one man is being used to educate others on the
consequences of sinning. This could represent religion by how Christ had to suffer, but still educated
people on why he suffered – ‘Tintern Abbey’ was written for Wordsworth’s sister, and although he
didn’t suffer the same way the Mariner or Christ did, you can infer that the ‘long winters’ were
painful for him, and so by suffering he learned to truly appreciate the ‘unremembered pleasures’
that he thought were unimportant at first, and could then educate his sister as to why nature is
beautiful and can been as powerful as spirituality and religion.
Another way in which ‘the Ancient Mariner’ presents religion is through the motif of nature.
Coleridge capitalises the words ‘Sun’ and ‘Moon’, much like the word ‘God’ would be, which could
be suggesting that nature is seen to have a similar impact as God, being incredibly powerful; this is
particularly emphasised by how the Mariner – despite describing snakes as ‘slimy things’, he then
watches them ‘moving in tracks of white’ – white being a religious reference to purity and Heaven –
and blesses them ‘unaware’ whilst a ‘spring of love gushed from [his] heart’. This detailed use of
language can also be seen in ‘Tintern Abbey’ regarding ideas of nature; the ‘N’ in nature helps to
personify nature whilst also giving it a God-like sense of power, which then helps to link it to
