Romanticism in the Rhyme of the Ancent Mariner

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Romanticism in Rime of the ancient mariner Three elements of writing characteristic of the Romantic Age that are present in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner are a view of nature as a place of purity and peace in which God is manifest, an emphasis on dreams and visions, and a focus on emotion and feeling. Romantics viewed nature as a pure and healing element, a place where God could be found. It is significant that when the albatross first appears, the sailors greet it "as if it had been a Christian soul (and) hailed it in God's name" (lines 64-65). Because it is part of nature, the albatross is treated with reverence and respect. When the Mariner kills the albatross, he has placed himself at odds with nature, and nature expresses this disharmony, with "slimy things (that) crawl with legs upon the slimy sea" (lines 122-123), and the water burning "like a witch's oils...green and blue and white" (lines 126-127). Dreams and visions are often found in Romantic literature. During the darkest hours of his punishment, the Mariner sees a lurid picture of the sun shining through a skeleton ship, "as if through a dungeon grate...with broad and burning face" (lines 176-177). On the skeleton ship he envisions two ghostly figures playing with dice, one called "Death," and the other "Life in Death" (lines 184-191). The Ancient Mariner deals heavily with the supernatural throughout the poem and several of the acts that take place could be put down to the imagination. For instance the Ancient Mariner detects spirits in their pure form several times throughout the poem, yet they talk only about him, not to him and then when the ghost ship carrying Death and Life-in-Death sails by, the Ancient Mariner overhears them gambling. Then there is when the Mariner lies unconscious on the deck and hears the First Voice and Second Voice discussing his fate and when angels appear over the

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