The Ancient Mariner - Anti-Hero or Romantic Hero

University in Sarajevo
Faculty of Philosophy December 15, 2012
Department of English Language Sarajevo
English Renaissance Literature

Poetry of English Pre-romanticism:
The Ancient Mariner: Anti-Hero or Romantic Hero

Student: Benjamin Čišić R
CONTENT

1. Introduction ………………………………………………………………….. 3 1. Foreword ……………………………………………………… 3 2. The Romantic Hero ……………………………………………… 3 3. The Anti-Hero ……………………………………………… 4

2. Anti-Hero or Romantic Hero? ……………………………………… 6 1. The Ancient Mariner as a Romantic Hero …………………….... 6 2. The Ancient Mariner as an Anti-Hero ……………………… 7

3. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………… 10 4. Works Cited ……………………………………………………………… 11 1. Introduction

1. Foreword

The Ancient Mariner, the central character and main protagonist of one of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's major poems „The Rime of The Ancient Mariner“, presents one of the most striking and mysterious characters of all time. His ill-fated adventure still captures and consumes the minds of readers even nowadays. With its more than powerful and supernatural images, an atmosphere so dark and grotesque, and thrilling dramatic changes of scenes, which resemble those of a modern day action movie, this poem manages to hypnotize and fascinate its readers, just as the Ancient Mariner did with the wedding guests at the beginning of the poem. The story of the poem is rather simple. The Ancient Mariner meets a wedding guest and tells him his somewhat distressing tale full of unexpected turns of events and supernatural phenomena. In the end we find out that the wedding guest was not randomly chosen by the Ancient Mariner, but that it was the agonizing Mariner's curse which urged him to tell this particular wedding guest his story. The character of the Ancient Mariner can be identified with a variety of

Cited: 1. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. Coleridge 's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: And Other Poems. England: J. B. Lippincott company, 1920. PDF file 2 3. „Coleridge 's Dramatization of the Sufferings of the Ancient Mariner“ Blogspot. Retrieved December 13, 2012 on the World Wide Web: http://literary-articles.blogspot.com/2010/02/coleridges-dramatization-of-sufferings.html 4 5. Melani, L. (February, 2009). "Romanticism." (Study Guide) Brooklyn College. Retrieved December 13, 2012 on the World Wide Web: http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/rom.html 6 7. Swanhorst, J. (January 9, 2010). „Coleridge 's Rime of the Ancient Mariner.“ Suite 101. Retrieved December 13, 2012 on the World Wide Web: http://suite101.com/article/coleridges-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner-a187346 8 ----------------------- [1] Lilia Melani, “Romanticism”, Brooklyn College, February 2009, December 13, 2012. [2] „Romantic hero“, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, July 11, 2007, December 13, 2012. [3] Angeliki Coconi, “What Are Some Qualities of a Romantic Hero?”, eHow.2012, December 13, 2012 [4] Jakob Malewitz, “Defining the Anti-Hero: From Mythology to Modern Literature.“ Yahoo! Voices [5] Tifany, „Anti-Heroes in Literature.“ Learnhub., 2009, December 13, 2012 [6] Jeris Swanhorst, „Coleridge 's Rime of the Ancient Mariner.“ Suite 101 [7] Jeris Swanhorst, „Coleridge 's Rime of the Ancient Mariner.“ Suite 101. January 9, 2010, December 13, 2012 [8] „Coleridge 's Dramatization of the Sufferings of the Ancient Mariner“ Blogspot [9] Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Coleridge 's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: And Other Poems (England:J. B. Lippincott company, 1920) 38, 107-110 [10] Coleridge, Coleridge 's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: And Other Poems 36, 115-118 [15] „Coleridge 's Dramatization of the Sufferings of the Ancient Mariner“ Blogspot. December 13, 2012