Tips for teaching The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Once upon a time as a college student, I was so mesmerized by the intense, mystical imagery of Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner that I chose to write a term paper about it for my Romantics class. It was titled “Social Ecology Perspectives in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and I thought it was brilliant at the time.
But guess what? Although spending hours in a library carrel combing through huge volumes from the stacks earned me an A in that class, it didn’t help me a year later when I had to teach the poem to high school seniors. When I became a practical-minded English teacher, my attitude flipped. Mariner began to feel very “So what?” to me. Merely basking in the spectacular imagery wasn’t really a lesson, and I wondered how to draw more purpose out of the poem. Also, as I taught the poem again and again, the storyline felt choppy and the plot points seemed melodramatic. I’d had enough of it and I knew it wasn’t a student favorite, but you know how this kind of thing goes: I had to figure out how to make a better experience out of Mariner, because it was here to stay on the curriculum.
If you’ve also run into some sticking points with Mariner or you’re teaching it for the first time, read on for tips about how to work around the challenges it presents.
Challenge #1: It’s hard to follow!
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner could be subtitled “Well, that escalated quickly.” Everything seems to happen suddenly in this poem: the Mariner approaching the Wedding Guest, the Mariner shooting the albatross and wearing its body around, the crew turning into zombies, etc. It’s hard for students to make predictions about the relentless chain of unfortunate events, so they feel lost (and lose interest) if they’re reading it independently.
How to deal with it:
To keep students on track, I think it works best to read it as a group, using multiple methods to keep everyone alert. Across the seven sections, I alternated reading aloud to the class myself, playing a recording, and going around the room with each student reading two stanzas at a time. I stopped the reading at appropriate points to keep up with the comprehension questions.
I also found that event-ordering review worksheet helped a lot. (I wrote up the events as pretend headlines to make it a fun challenge.) I initially developed the activity for my classes at the lowest academic level, but I found that the resource helped all of my students levels solidify their understandings. The cause-and-effect relationships of the plot just aren’t always obvious!
Related resources:
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Reading Questions
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Review Worksheet
Challenge #2: The moral instruction feels heavy-handed.
Okay, we get it—the Mariner is guilty!
Although one interpretation is that the albatross is a symbol of the transgressions against humanity and nature during the Age of Exploration, on the surface it can feel like the poem is saying we deserve to be punished in extreme ways for every mistake. Also, the way it ends with a pat moral statement in old-timey language (“He prayeth well, who loveth well/Both man and bird and beast”) can seem rigid or strange in an English class today.
How to deal with it:
It’s easier for students to appreciate the poem as a work of art (instead of seeing it as an overdone message about right and wrong) when you highlight how Coleridge crafted it to meet multiple reading interests. Students were engaged when I divided them into groups to analyze how the poem can be understood in three different ways:
As a parable that reminds us to respect other people and animals and seek forgiveness if we harm someone.
Through this lens, some parts of the poem seem like a sermon, but you can explain how Coleridge was trying to extend beyond a religious message to include the ideals of the Romantic writers. The Romantics felt it was important to maintain a strong connection with nature, beware of advancements in science and technology, and value the wisdom of people who were viewed by some as unsophisticated (instead of destroying environments and cultures in the name of economic pursuits). So it’s notable that Coleridge worked within the familiar template of the parable to push back against situations that many powerful people considered to be societal progress.
As a horror story that aligns somewhat with the gothic genre that was developing throughout the 18th century (later best exemplified by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which makes several allusions to Mariner).
When we notice why each of the supernatural creatures emerge, we can see how Coleridge is using horror to dig in on the idea that there will be negative consequences for the Age of Exploration.
As an adventure story similar to the news reports from sailors during Coleridge’s day.
You could read the poem as a travelogue (albeit fantastical at times) about parts of the world unseen to most people at the time. This is a simple way of looking at it, but I think it makes it easier to appreciate.
Related resource:
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Worksheets: 3 Views
Challenge #3: It’s hard to come up with a final project.
Mariner often leads to wrap-up assignments that are corny (e.g. “Write about the thing that’s an albatross around your neck” or an acrostic poem) or too much of a stretch to relate to the text (e.g. “Research sea shanties and report your findings.”).
How to deal with it:
I realized how the general “meh” that most students felt about Mariner actually provided a great opportunity for them to do literary analysis. I came up with an assignment that required students to examine whether they thought the poem deserved its place in the curriculum. I provided a list of common ideas about what constitutes “literary merit” and for each one, students explained whether they thought the poem met it. (I let them add/change criteria because that kind of thing is subjective.)
Students were so engaged in this assignment because it gave them the opportunity to protest a little bit against the things in English class they don’t appreciate and celebrate the things they do. It gave them a better understanding of what went into their overall opinion of the text and helped them move away from an imprecise declaration of love or hate. The assignment (which can be adapted to other texts) resulted in more mature responses to literature, contributing to their readiness for writing in college. Although students don’t have the power to change what’s in the curriculum, I think they get more agency by taking an active role in deciding what’s most important for them to take away from a text and the process or tools they used to analyze it.
Related resource:
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Assignment: Analyzing Literary Merit
In conclusion
Your study of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner will be most successful when students have the tools to follow along and find the value within this otherworldly poem. Be sure to check out my full resource bundle for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and follow the BritLitWit store for new resources and offers!
