The lament of the old sailor (original title in '' The rhyme off the ancient Mariner '') is a Poème of the British author Samuel Taylor Coleridge composed between 1797 and 1799. Of romantic style , this very long poem describes the supernatural adventures of a captain of boat which made shipwreck. The poem is often described like a Christian allegory.

Summary of the poem

The old sailor invites the guests of a marriage to listen to his lament. Initially irritated, then amused, its audience becomes literally hypnotized by the extraordinary account of the sailor.

The account

The crime of the old sailor

After having left the port and having sailed under good wind, the ship drifts towards the South, pulled by head winds. The crew finds itself encircled by the ices and in a thick fog. A Albatross, bird of good omen, appears and guides them towards better water. However, for an unknown reason, the sailor kills the albatross with his Arbalète. The other sailors expressed their anger initially because the bird had left them water menaçantes of the Antartique and its ices. But, when the fog was dissipated and that the temperature becomes again lenient, they gave reason to the sailor, and made by there part of the crime, crime which will unchain a series of events Surnaturel S to avenge death for the albatross.

Avengers spirits then make derive the boat in a place not specified. An complete absence of wind immobilizes the boat in the middle of the ocean. in

'' Day after day, day after day, ''
'' We stuck, NOR breath NOR motion; ''
'' As idle ace has painted ship ''
'' Upon has painted ocean. ''

'' Water, toilets, everywhere, ''
''And all the boards did shrink;''
'' Water, toilets, everywhere, ''
'' Nor any drop to drink. ''

Translation:

Day after day, day after day
We remained there, without breeze nor movement,
a Such vessel painted
On a sea in painting.

water, water everywhere,
And all the boards of the edge narrowed.
water, water everywhere,
And not a drop with drinking.

The curse falls down on the crew

Very quickly, the lack of water was felt. For the second time, the sailors change opinion on the crime of the old sailor: they blame it now to have killed the albatross and to be responsible for the lack of water. The old sailor feels the curse as if the bird were suspended around its neck, whereas actually this one ran at the bottom of water.

At this point in time a Ghost ship appears, pretense to emerge from nowhere. On board, the Dead - symbolized in an allegorical way by a skeleton - and a woman with the pale dye, play the hearts of the sailors with Des. Death gains the hearts of the sailors on a jet of dice; the woman gains as for it the heart of the old sailor, whom it will torment. He will have to undergo a punishment worse than death to have killed the albatross.

The old sailors sees the other members then crew to die it of thirst, one by one. Their expression remains fixed on their faces. Around the boat, swim of the creatures, that the old sailor had cursed before, describing them as viscous and sticky creatures.

End of the curse

This time however, their true beauty appears to him and he blesses them by a Prière. the curse is then raised and it feels the albatross being detached from its neck. The rain starts to fall abundantly: the martyrdom ends. The bodies of the dead sailors are then had by benevolent spirits. They are raised and led the ship to good port. There, the ship sinks in a gigantic swirl, leaving only the old sailors like only survivor. Like penitence, the old sailor will be forced to traverse the world and to tell his history, whose morals can be summarized with " We must like each creature that God fait." in

'' For the dear God who loveth custom, ''
'' He made and loveth all. ''

Notes and references of the article

Random links:

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