One of the most famous people to outwardly say the 'Rime' has no moral was Mrs Barbauld. Coleridge recalls her comments in Table Talk, "Mrs Barbauld once told me that she admired The Ancient Mariner very much, but that there were two faults in it -- it was improbable, and had no moral." (The Road To Xanadu, p276) It was his own opinion that it was over moralistic however, "I told her that in my own judgement the poem had too much; and that the only, or chief fault, if I might say so, was the obtrusion of the moral sentiment so openly on the reader as a principle or cause of action in a work of such pure imagination." (The Road To Xanadu, p276)

If Coleridge felt these stanzas were obtrusively moralistic, why did he not alter or remove them? It could be presumed that Coleridge thought them to be integral to his poem.

And a thousand thousand slimy things

(The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, p47)

Critics have sometimes described the killing of the albatross as a trivial, token act but surely only an unjustifiably compartmentalized form of thinking could see it in this way. The shooting actually stands for every act of mindless cruelty, all failure to respect and feel with other life forms. If the albatross stands for life itself, the story of its killing it foreshadows - carries the warning and the darkness - of complete ecological disaster.

I watched their rich attire:

Coleridge's poem illustrates Christian redemption and man's redeemable qualities. The story is about a man's literal and spiritual journey and how they parallel each other. On these journeys, Coleridge imaginatively explores the supernatural. He makes the story and the Mariners experiences more interesting. The Mariner experiences moral error and physical decay that changes his view on life during his journey.

(The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, p49)

A wicked whisper came, and made

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner can be seen as an essentially Christian poem and could be said to be an insight into the ideals held by that community. The Mariner is a Christ figure to the extent that he bears the burden for the rest of the crew, who share his guilt because at one stage they had applauded his destructive act. At the end of the poem when the Pilot's boat goes out to investigate the returning, spectral ship, neither the Pilot nor the boatboy can bear the encounter. The Pilot faints and the boatboy goes mad. Only the 'holy Hermit' has (barely) enough strength to address the Mariner and then receive his confession, "The Hermit stepped forth from the boat, / And scarcely could he stand." (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, p73) The Mariner himself becomes part of nature as well as remaining human, "I pass, like night, from land to land; / I have strange power of speech;" (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, p73). This particular transcending of a duality perhaps represents a deep human need. After earning his curse, the Mariner is able to gain access to the favour of God--able to regain his ability to pray--only by realizing that the monsters around him are beautiful in God's eyes and that he should love them as he should have loved the Albatross.

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 3305
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)