(1).
This picture shows the mariner, with the albatross around his neck, as he watches his shipmates fall to their deaths

The Original Poem

The poem was first published with other poems in the publication Lyrical Ballads in 1798. Lyrical Ballads was published and written jointly by Samuel Coleridge and his friend William Wordsworth, who wrote most of the poems. The poem was published as The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere and was considered to have been written with very old-fashioned spellings. In 1800, a second editon of Lyrical Ballads was published, along with another volume of poems. At William Wordsworth's suggestion, Coleridge modernized the spellings of many words, including the current spelling of the title.
(14)

Moral

Critics and scholars believe that the moral of the story is more complex than simply "be nice to an albatross" as the poem suggests. However, they cannot agree on a universal moral. The general idea is that The Rime of The Ancient Mariner is a classic story of sin and redemption which can be seen as somewhat of a moral. (10)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

This is an image of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. [9]

Coleridge was the author of the epic poem, "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." He was born in England on October 21, 1772, the youngest of 10 children. His addiction to opium, alcohol, and women caused him to fall into debt, so he joined the army. Coleridge wasn't sent to battle due to poor horsemanship, and his brother claimed he was insane to get him out of the army. He later met Robert Southey with whom he shared radical ideas and philosophies. (2)


In Samuels later life, he suffered from neuralgic and rheumatic pains. His physicians legally proscribed him opium to treat his pain. But soon, he became addicted to the substance, even after his pain was gone. The drugs helped him at first but caused more pain then what he was suffering from did.(5)

Coleridge wrote many other poems before the epic Rime of the Ancient Mariner. He was able to publish collections of his poems such as Poems on Various Subjects and Poems in 1796 and 1797. Later, he met and befriended Dorothy and William Wordsworth. Together they published Lyrical Ballads in which the first poem was Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The poems included in this work set a new style through their use of everyday language. Coleridge and the Wordsworths together are described as "one of the most fruitful creative relationships in English literature." (11)



The ancient mariner accosts the groomsman in front of the church. (3)


This picture shows the wedding guest beginning to hear the mariner's tale. (4)


A picture of the albatross killed by the ancient mariner. (6)


The Mariner must watch as a game of chance between the woman, Life-In-Death and Death. Death takes the lives of the Mariner's shipmates, however
Life-In-Death wins the life of the Mariner. (7)


This is an image of after the albatross falling from the Mariner's neck, and spirits
came down to talk about his redmemtion. Then the spirits take him home.(12)

(8)
This is an image of the ancient mariners and his eye, which is a motif in the story.

another major element is the serpent. the serpent is often associated with water. Serpents also are attributed the ability to give and take life since they have poison but a small amount of poison can cure. This is shown when the mariner sees their beauty and he is in essence reborn(13)


This statue of the Ancient Mariner was unveiled in 2003 in Watchet, England as a tribute to Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The statue depicts one of the most memorable images from the poem, the dead albatross hung around the mariner's neck. (15)


This is a piture of The Ancient Mariner, and what he would look like when he was talking to the Wedding Guest(16)
Sources
1. http://www.olemiss.edu/courses/engl309/marinerb.jpg
2. http://www.incompetech.com/authors/coleridge/
3. http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~dmiall/mariner/stcmarin.gif
4. http://www.olemiss.edu/courses/engl309/tale.html
5.http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:5RFH4RsNj2IJ:www.kirjasto.sci.fi/coleridg.htm+Samuel+Taylor+Coleridge+addicted+to+opium&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1
6. http://dromo.info/Image20.gif
7. http://www.olemiss.edu/courses/engl309/lifedeath.html
8. http://www.societyofbookbinders.com/gallery/mark_ramsden/images/ancient_mariner_big.jpg
[9]http://www.uua.org/uuhs/duub/articles/samueltaylorcoleridge.html
10. http://webpages.shepherd.edu/maustin/engl209/COLERIDGE.DOC
11. http://www.online-literature.com/coleridge/
12.http://www.olemiss.edu/courses/engl309/marinerart.html
13. the element encyclopedia of magical creatures.
14.http://www.universalteacher.org.uk/poetry/mariner.htm
15.http://www.biocrawler.com/encyclopedia/The_Rime_of_the_Ancient_Mariner
16.)http://www.mervynpeake.org/images/ancient_mariner01s.jpg