The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: Motifs

Christian Oaths

Throughout his narrative, the Mariner frequently interjects oaths that reference key figures in Christianity. These interjections typically appear at moments of danger or heightened fear. In Part 2, for instance, when he and his fellow sailors are stranded and serpents begin to churn the ocean surface, the Mariner interjects the oath, “O Christ” (123). Later, in Part 6, the Mariner interjects the same oath upon witnessing spirits exit the bodies of his deceased crew (lines 484–87):

A little distance from the prow
Those crimson shadows were:
I turned my eyes upon the deck—
Oh, Christ! what saw I there!

At other points in the poem the Mariner makes interjections that refer to Christ’s Crucifixion, as when he swears, “by the holy rood [i.e., the Cross]!” (line 498). He also calls out to the Virgin Mary: “Heaven’s Mother send us grace!” (line 178). Finally, he utters several oaths to God, as in “O let me be awake, by God!” (line 470) and “Dear Lord in Heaven!” (506). These and other interjections signal that the Mariner identifies as a Christian, which seems to be confirmed by his turn to prayer and his ongoing compulsion to repent. Yet the Mariner’s earnest belief in occult spirits is decidedly un-Christian, which suggests that he may not be as devoted to Christ as his numerous oaths indicate.

Supernatural Agents

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is full of supernatural agents that influence the weather, reanimate corpses, and guide the Mariner’s ship. The nature of these supernatural agents is never entirely clear. The poem’s apparently Christian moral framework would suggest that they must belong to a Christian worldview. The marginal annotations Coleridge added to the poem in 1818 affirm this suggestion by referring to these beings as “angelic spirits.” Yet the poem’s many references to the supernatural don’t all align neatly with a traditional Christian worldview. Consider, for instance, the figures of Death and Life-and-Death. When the Mariner sees them on an approaching ship, he watches as they play a game of dice. Life-in-Death claims victory, which, as the marginal gloss tells us, means she “winneth the ancient Mariner.” Death subsequently claims the lives of the crew, leaving Mariner to pass through a harrowing experience that seems like a living death. Do such figures really belong to a Christian worldview? Or are they specters that belong to occult realms that exceed the Christian cosmos? A definitive answer never comes, leaving the matter for the reader to decide.

Eyes

Eyes are a key motif, and they appear frequently in the poem. Coleridge signals the importance of eyes from the very beginning, when the Wedding-Guest calls attention to the Mariner’s “glittering eye” (line 4). The Wedding-Guest clearly feels captivated by the gleaming gaze of “the bright-eyed Mariner” (20). Yet there is also something ominous about the Mariner’s hypnosis-inducing eyes, which the Wedding-Guest himself will indicate later in the poem, when he says, “I fear thee and thy glittering eye” (line 228). The Wedding-Guest’s fear of the Mariner’s eyes must be understood in relation to the concept of the evil eye. This concept has existed in human cultures for thousands of years, and it refers to the idea that a supernatural curse may be communicated through a spiteful glare. This is precisely the type of power the Mariner references when he looks into the eyes of his dying crew (lines 214–15):

Each turned his face with a ghastly pang,
And cursed me with his eye.

The Mariner continues to feel this curse for a long time. Even after spirits reanimate his crew, their lifeless eyes continue to communicate the curse (lines 436–39):

All fixed on me their stony eyes,
That in the Moon did glitter.

The pang, the curse, with which they died,
Had never passed away[.]