Religion
What religion is portrayed throughout the ballad?
Christianity.
What time of day do the majority of the supernatural things happen?
Nighttime.
What does the killing of the Albatross represent?
The death of Christ.
What happens to the ship?
It cracks and sinks into the ocean.
What element breaks the mariner's penance?
The rain.
How is "Life-In-Death described?"
Yellow hair, red lips, and white as leprosy. She is described to be female.
What does the Ancient Mariner do to try to repent his sins?
Pray.
What two characters do we see on the ghost ship?
What is the significance of having a woman aboard a ship?
Women were bad luck on board because they distracted the crew, which would anger the sea, causing treacherous conditions as revenge.
What possesses the sailors at the end of the story?
Angels / seraphs.
In the night, what color do the seraphs bring?
Crimson (red).
Who shot the Albatross?
The mariner.
What is a seraph?
An angelic being associated with light, ardor, and purity.
What do the sailors do before they drop dead?
Give the mariner an accusing glare.
What sin did the mariner commit at the beginning of the ballad?
Killing the albatross.
Who helps the mariner sail the ship?
The dead men.
What do the dead men look to every night?
The moon.
Where does the mariner tell his story?
Outside of a wedding.
What or who does the Albatross represent?
Jesus Christ.
What physical penance does the mariner undergo?
Wears the Albatross around his neck, no food, no water, intense sun, no wind or waves to carry his ship, all the sailors die.
What is the significance of the sea snakes?
The sea snakes were a test to see if the mariner was willing to repent for his sins. Him praying and/or admiring the sea snakes allowed him to repent.
What does the mariner see when he tries to sleep?
The dead men's accusing eye.
The Hermit, Pilot, or the Pilot's son.
What is a frame narrative?
A story within a story.
What is the definition of penance?
A Christian sacrament in which a member of the church confesses sins to a priest and is given absolution.
What is the mariner charged to do for the rest of his life (to continue to his penance)?
He has to recant his story to anyone who will listen.
After he shoots the bird, how long is the mariner deprived / isolated in the ocean for?
Seven days and seven nights.
What happens to the mariner before Life-In-Death and Death have their conversation?
He faints, "swounds."
When does the mariner die?
He doesn't --> he's cursed to tell his story for the rest of time.
What year was the poem published?
1798.