PAPER Topics

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When Samuel Coleridge set pen to paper, it is clear, he knew his bible well. In his Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Christian mythology and symbolism abound. The three main elements of the story, the Mariner, the Albatross, and the Sun, each pla ....

Middle of Term Paper
... Mariner endures many trials, but his failure at the first costs him dearly during those which follow. The initial "temptation" was to kill the good seabird, which he does without conscience. And, like the temptation in the desert, the Mariner is parched with thirst, "Water, water, everywhere,/Nor any drop to drink." And when the Mariner tries to pray for salvation, he hears a demonic voice, like Lucifer: "I looked to heaven, and tried to pray;/But or ever a prayer had gushed,/A wicked whisper came, and made/My heart as dry as dust." [ln 244] As the ghost ship approaches, "I bit my arm, I sucked the blood," in reference to Jesus' use ...