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by Spixxy on February 11th, 2004

Spixxy

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In the Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, why does the ancient mariner kill the albatross?

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  • by DOSJockey382 on February 13th, 2004

    DOSJockey382

    Why the ancyent Marinere (the spelling in the text I have) kills the Albatross is not clear. The Marinere is telling his story to a guest at a wedding. The Marinere tells how the Albatross follows the ship he is on and the sailors on board treat it well. The Albatross is a sign of good luck to mariners and is a Christ symbol in the poem. While he is detailing the happy times and good sailing the ship has while the crew treats the Albatross well, the wedding guest asks why the Marinere looks so poor. "'God save thee, ancyent Marinere!/ 'From the fiends that plague thee thus --/ 'Why look'st thou so?'" The Marinere replies "with my cross bow/ I shot the Albatross." This is the only explanation given in the entire poem, the mere act of killing without a real reason or respect for life. Because of his actions, the Marinere goes through the hellish voyage on the ship and is doomed to tell his tale to whoever will listen for the rest of his days, so that others might have the respect he did not.

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  • by Chandra Tyler on June 13th, 2006

    Chandra Tyler

    because he needed to save the wedding guest from making the same mistake in his life and going through the same thing...

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  • by astarte59 on June 22nd, 2007

    astarte59

    We're never told. Coleridge wrote to a fellow poet that he thought the poem was too moral for a work of "pure imagination." I think by that he mean to create a poem that was so vivid in its setting and in the changes in the Mariner and in his power to tell his story (the Wedding Guest "cannot choose but hear"). And to me the lines at the end about being kind to animals do seem kind of obvious and trite compared to the horror of the mariner's experience. So his motive for shooting the albatross isn't important to Coleridge. He just did it, and then all the horrific consequences follow. What's interesting is how grossed-out he is initially by the sea-snakes, seeing them as slimy, but later, when he's the only person alive on the ship, he sees them as "beautiful living things." This is actually very true psychologically and to the human imagination; think of prisoners in isolation who will make "friends" with rats or even roaches. Humans really can't bear total isolation and will make a connection with any living creature around and talk to it, feed it, etc. just to feel they have some kind of companionship.

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  • by debsmooth on February 13th, 2007

    debsmooth

    OT: but you are all so well read! Warm's my cynical heart, it does.

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  • by Steffi on February 13th, 2007

    Steffi

    The ancient mariner kills the albatross because he is bored. He does not see the albatross for the good omen that it is. At the time he does not respect nature and that is what gets him in so much trouble in the future.

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  • by Spunts.answered 67 questions in 1 hour. on February 13th, 2007

    Spunts.answered 67 questions in 1 hour.

    the ancient mariner killed the albatross because he felt the bird was responsible for bringing the bad weather causing the ship to sail off course.

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