Transcript Slide 1
Rime of Ancient Mariner Part III Katie Nicole Cynthia There passed a weary time. Each throat Was parched, and glazed each eye. A weary time! a weary time! How glazed each weary eye, When looking westward, I beheld A something in the sky. At first it seemed a little speck, And then it seemed a mist: It moved and moved, and took at last A certain shape, I wist. A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist! And still it neared and neared: As if it dodged a water-sprite, It plunged and tacked and veered. With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, We could not laugh nor wail; Through utter drought all dumb we stood! I bit my arm, I sucked the blood, And cried, A sail! a sail! With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, Agape they heard me call: Gramercy! they for joy did grin, And all at once their breath drew in, As they were drinking all. See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more! Hither to work us weal; Without a breeze, without a tide, She steadies with upright keel! The western wave was all a-flame The day was well nigh done! Almost upon the western wave Rested the broad bright Sun; When that strange shape drove suddenly Betwixt us and the Sun. And straight the Sun was flecked with bars, (Heaven's Mother send us grace!) As if through a dungeon-grate he peered, With broad and burning face. Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud) How fast she nears and nears! Are those her sails that glance in the Sun, Like restless gossameres! Are those her ribs through which the Sun Did peer, as through a grate? And is that Woman all her crew? Is that a DEATH? and are there two? Is DEATH that woman's mate? Her lips were red, her looks were free, Her locks were yellow as gold: Her skin was as white as leprosy, The Night-Mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she, Who thicks man's blood with cold. The naked hulk alongside came, And the twain were casting dice; "The game is done! I've won! I've won!" Quoth she, and whistles thrice. Four times fifty living men, (And I heard nor sigh nor groan) With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, They dropped down one by one. The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out: At one stride comes the dark; With far-heard whisper, o'er the sea. Off shot the spectre-bark. We listened and looked sideways up! Fear at my heart, as at a cup, My life-blood seemed to sip! The souls did from their bodies fly,— They fled to bliss or woe! And every soul, it passed me by, Like the whizz of my CROSS-BOW! The stars were dim, and thick the night, The steersman's face by his lamp gleamed white; From the sails the dew did drip— Till clombe above the eastern bar The horned Moon, with one bright star Within the nether tip. One after one, by the star-dogged Moon Too quick for groan or sigh, Each turned his face with a ghastly pang, And cursed me with his eye. Meaning of the Poem • A log time passed; the sailors became mouths became so dry, that they were unable to speak. • One day, the Mariner saw a ship on the horizon. It was moving toward them. They were too dry-mouthed to speak tell the other sailors, the Mariner bit his arm and sucked his blood so it would moisten his tongue enough and he yelled “A sail! a sail!” • The sailors were happy, because they were saved. But as the ship neared, they saw that it was a ghostly ship and its crew had two figures: "Death and the Night-mare Life-in-Death“ • Which take the form of a pale woman with golden locks and red lips. Death and Life-in-Death began to throw dice, and the woman won, she whistled three times, causing the sun to sink to the horizon, the stars to instantly emerge. • As the moon rose, and a single star, the sailors dropped dead one by one except the Mariner. Diction • Colloquial (Be held, I wist, they for joy did grin) • Lyrical Ballad, Rhyming Quatrains (English ballad tradition) http://www.shmoop.com/rime-of-ancient-mariner/rhyme-form-meter.html Tone • It started off sad because they were thirsty and lost, then it became happy because they thought they were being saved then back to sad because soon after they realized it was a ghost ship. Mood • Melancholy Rhetorical Situation • Death and Life-in-Death began to “throw dice” • We’re listening to the author tell the story Figurative Language • In this simile, the skeleton-like Ghost Ship makes the sun look like a prisoner staring through the bars of a dungeon. • The curse that the sailors place on the Mariner is tied directly to the killing of the albatross in this simile. Their departing souls pass the Mariner like the "whizz" of the crossbow with which he shot the bird. • The sails of the ghost ship are compared in this simile to "gossamers" or cobwebs. • The forces of Death and Life-in-Death are personified as the crew of the Ghost Ship. LifeIn-Death is a strange mix of the beautiful and the creepy, as evidenced by two similes: her hair is like gold, but her skin is diseased like a leper's. The dice game they play represents the random fate of the sailors. • http://www.shmoop.com/rime-of-ancient-mariner/symbolism-imagery.html Imagery • “Each throat was parched, and glazed each eye.” • “The horned Moon, with one bright star” Sound • The line lengths alternate between eight syllables in the first and third lines, and six syllables in the second and fourth. • The meter is characterized by a lot of iambs, the most common metrical unit in English. (An iamb is a short beat followed by a long one or an unaccented syllable followed by an accented one.) Type of Poem • Structured stanzas but no repetition. • ABCBDEFGHGG Personal Thoughts • We all thought this poem was too long and boring. It had no point and we couldn’t relate to it at all.