TROTAM - Contexts, Comedy Concepts and Authorial Methods Flashcards
What is one interpretation of the poem as a Christian Allegory?
- The poem can be seen as a story teaching the Christian message that Thou Shalt Not Kill, or indeed recalling the break with nature of Adam and Eve’s original sin in the Old Testament.
What is another interpretation of the poem as a Christian Allegory?
- It could also be seen to recount the betrayal of Judas in the New Testament, and to contain elements of Resurrection.
- Rather than telling a solely Christian story, Coleridge allows these ideas to co-exist with pagan, supernatural and natural ideas, to form a more complete whole.
How is the poem a Quasi-Epic Poem?
- The poem could be read as an epic poem like Homer’s The Odyssey, in which the hero goes on a long and dangerous journey and battles monsters beyond most humans’ experience, learning a moral lesson before he can return.
How can the poem be seen as a romantic plea to value Sublime nature?
- The poem could be seen as a plea by a Romantic writer to respect every element of sublime natural, and treat it with the awe something so beautiful and powerful deserves.
- If we do so, it has the power to transform us, like it does the Wedding Guest.
How is the poem an account of mental illness?
- It has been argued that Coleridge suffered from what we today called bipolar disorder; the accounts of ecstasy and despair in the text could be seen to reflect this.
How is the poem perhaps a drug-induced flight of fancy?
- As a lifelong user of opium (a relative of heroin that causes hallucinations) Coleridge’s wild and vivid fantasy can be seen as influenced by his drug use.
How could the poem be interpreted as a treatise against interpretation?
- A postmodern reading of the text could see the moment that the Mariner ‘interprets’ the Albatross as the moment it ‘dies’.
- The text could be read as an argument that we should not seek to interpret and control the world, but simply to appreciate and be inspired by it.
How is sin and penance evident in the poem?
Stories of sin, punishment and absolution are common across many cultures and belief systems. At the same time, this one is complex, and that Mariner is only partially absolved.
How is the poem a crime text?
- We should be very clear about the fact that Coleridge did not think of his story, first and foremost, as a crime text, certainly not in our modern understanding of the term.
- We are therefore, for this exam paper, approaching the text in a way that was not the author’s primary intention, and we can be explicit about the fact that Coleridge’s poem ‘was not originally conceived as a crime text.’
What is the frame narrative?
A story ‘outside’ of the main story, which forms the beginning and the end – often in order to make Gothic or supernatural stories more believable.
What is an allegory?
A story with a hidden meaning, most often a moral or political one.
What is a subjective account?
An account based on personal feelings, experience and opinions.
What is an unreliable narrator?
A story-teller whose credibility has been seriously compromised, e.g. because they are proven to be mad or untrustworthy.
What is the importance of the symbol of the Albatross?
The albatross can be seen as a symbol of Christ, of Nature.
What is the importance of the symbol of the eyes?
The eyes can represent the power of storytelling, the judgement of others, or the willingness (or not) to see the truth.
