What are four romantic characteristics in parts 1–3 of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

This poem reflects the characteristics of the Romantic period in that it does reflect a love of and respect for nature, it uses supernatural elements of a fantastic nature, and elevates the common man (a sailor) as its hero.  It does not reflect romantic characteristics in its use of archaic language (eftsoons he droped his hand, etc.)

What are four romantic characteristics in parts 1–3 of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

The end of the poem really reiterates the romantic concept of the connection between man and nature: "He prayeth well who loveth well both man and bird and beast." Also, the entire poem is a "nightmare vision" which reflects the romantic interest in the supernatural. The romantic fascination with nature is also played out when the Ancient Mariner has to tell his tale for penance because he violated the covenant between man and nature. Finally, the remote setting of the poem reflects the  romantic interest with the "hermit" archetype.

What are four romantic characteristics in parts 1–3 of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

Here are some more specific examples of the romantic influences in the poem:1)  The power of nature – The major symbol that develops the power and the beauty of nature is that of the slimy creatures from part 4 in the poem.  At this point in the poem, the mariner is surrounded by 200 corpses (that of his crew).  He feels guilty for having led them to their demise and he wishes he could join them.  He looks down from his boat and is able to see the beauty in even these ugly, slimy creatures.  Realizing that they are made by God, he is able to pray for the first time in a long time.  Here, as in most romantic literature, nature has the power to heal.  The mariner is now in God’s favor.2)  Sin and repentance – One of the major themes from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is that of sin and repentance.  The mariner shot the albatross for no apparent reason.  Because of this lack of respect toward nature, the mariner lost God’s favor and is unable to pray.  As a punishment, his crew members tied the albatross around the mariner’s neck as a punishment for their bad luck.  However, when the mariner is able to see the beauty in the slimy creatures in the waters below, he realizes that these creatures are beautiful in God’s eyes and that he should have seen the beauty in the albatross.  At this very moment, the bird falls from his neck and falls into the water – proof that he has been forgiven.

What is the theme of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

Duality is perhaps the major theme of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Duality is the notion that all things have both good and bad within them. Coleridge's poem presents nature and humanity as having dual natures in this way.

Firstly, Coleridge does not present nature in a one-dimensional manner. It is neither a sentimentalized force of goodness nor a hostile presence intent on destroying man. Nature is both beautiful and dangerous, life-giving and untamed. Examine the mariner's description of the weather and the sea after he is cursed:

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.

The very deep did rot: O Christ!

That ever this should be!

Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs

Upon the slimy sea.

About, about, in reel and rout

The death-fires danced at night;

The water, like a witch's oils,

Burnt green, and blue and white.

Here, the natural world becomes a source of fear. Terms such as "slimy things" and "witch's oil" give the sequence a fearful, gothic tone. The mariner's sin has made it inhospitable and ugly. However, other depictions of nature as something beautiful and lovely are also present in the poem, as when the mariner looks upon the water snakes and is moved to prayer by their beauty.

Coleridge also examines the duality of man. Mankind is capable of great sin and great repentance. The same mariner who kills an albatross without much thought is also capable of blessing beautiful water snakes "unaware," finally allowing love of all living things to expiate him of his sin (hence, the albatross's corpse falling from his neck). There is even the sense that without the mariner's fall from grace and subsequent suffering alone, he would not have been able to know such divine, all-consuming love, giving the poem a sense of what Catholicism calls "felix culpa," or "fortunate fall." Hence, there is a duality even within error, making the moral universe of the poem quite complicated.

What is the theme of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

When he carelessly kills the albatross, the Mariner sins against God and nature. He sins against nature because God loves all of creation, not just humankind. The poem states:

He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.

The theme or underlying meaning of the poem, therefore, is to show how one gets out from under a sin against God. The poem shows that this happens through the redemptive power of the imagination, an important Romantic theme.

The Mariner is guilty of killing the albatross. However, for a long time, he doesn't understand that he has done anything wrong. He can't see the beauty and wonder of God's creation. Therefore, he and his shipmates remain under a curse. It is impossible for the Mariner to achieve forgiveness until he is able to confess he has done something wrong.

Finally, when the Mariner sees and is able to respond to the beauty of the sea snakes, he shows he has developed the imagination and empathy to understand all of creation as blessed. Then the curse is lifted.

What is the theme of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

Tjhere are a number of possible themes we could point out in this famous poem, but the one that I feel is of particular relevance to today's society, given the environmental disaster that we have made and suffer, is the green message that is clearly present in this poem.

Let us remember that the Mariner is only able to pray again and expiate the curse that lies upon him when he realises fully the consequences of what was for him an unthinking and casual act. Killing the albatross was not done out of malicious intent, yet the Mariner has to accept responsibility for this crime. Part of this process is learning that all creatures in nature are just as special as other creatures. This is why when the Mariner is able to bless the water snakes, the albatross symbolically falls from his neck, as he has learnt this lesson and understands that all of nature must be cherished and possesses its own wonder and beauty.

This is why the final section of the poem in the third from last stanza seems to summarise this theme when it says:

He prayeth best, who loveth best

All things both great and small;

For the dear God who loveth us,

He made and loveth all.

As the Mariner has learnt, it is important for man to live in harmony with all of nature and all of its creatures. This is the only way to ensure that we can live in harmony with God.

What is the theme of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy that deals with deep questions of life and existence. Although the overt theme of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is that a person should love all the creatures God has created, one can nevertheless identify various metaphysical themes that the poem grapples with as well. The most obvious metaphysical topics of the poem are determinism and free will, mind and matter, and religion and spirituality.

Determinism is the concept that everything that happens is destined to happen based on events that have already ocurred. Determinism stands opposed to free will, which states that people can determine their own actions and outcomes. In "Rime," the mariner shoots the albatross for no apparent reason, and this sets in motion a series of dire consequences for him and others. A deterministic perspective would see that the mariner had no choice but to shoot the albatross; all the events of his life up to that point brought him to the place where that was what he was going to do in that situation. Interestingly, his redemption comes through no choice of his own: he looks at the water snakes and "blessed them unaware." Later, he spends his life going into an unavoidable spasm when he finds the person he must tell his tale to. He really has no free will even after he returns home.

In the poem, both mind and matter affect the mariner. He deals with significant physical problems including ice, lack of wind, desperate thirst, and a sinking boat. The mariner's mind is incapable of solving these problems; however, his mental torment does make his problems worse. He considers the curse in the dead men's eyes, he experiences friendship and fear, and he wonders at all the things happening to him. So the poem seems to suggest that both mind and matter are real and contribute to one's experience.

Religion and spirituality play a big part in the poem. Some Christian orthodoxy is displayed as references are made to the Virgin Mary and to Christ and to the hermit's ability to "shrieve" the mariner. However, the poem contains more references to the "polar spirits" that decree that the mariner must "do penance." Each "seraph-man" that occupies a dead man's corpse is another example of the spirit world presented by this poem. The mariner's ability to pray is what turns his fortune and allows his redemption. Coleridge creates a mythical spirit world that he blends with elements of Christianity and in so doing validates the idea of an unseen spiritual dimension. 

Certainly some metaphysical themes are present in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," although they are not Coleridge's primary emphasis. Nevertheless, themes of determinism, mind and matter, and religion and spirituality are evident in the poem.

What is the main idea of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" conveys the theme that humans will suffer until they develop the humility to understand that all of nature is God's creation and must be treated with love and respect. Coleridge, in a sense, could be seen as having the sensibility of a climate change activist ahead of his time, preaching harmony with the natural world.

The mariner's great crime is shooting the albatross even though the creature has done no harm—and has, in fact, been helpful. The mariner kills it thoughtlessly, not with any malice, but just because he can. He does so because he is the human; he has the power. This great mistake brings a curse to bear on the mariner and his shipmates.

It is only when the mariner sees and thanks God for the beauty of the water snakes that he finds redemption. He says of these lovely creatures who are blue, green, and "velvet" black :

O happy living things! no tongue Their beauty might declare: A spring of love gushed from my heart, And I blessed them unaware

What is the main idea of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

The main idea of this poem is a moral message, warning against thoughtless and foolhardy actions such as the one the Mariner performs in shooting the albatross. The albatross had done the Mariner no harm at all; in fact it seems it had helped to guide his ship, so that his wanton killing of it appears even more inexcusable.

 The poem shows the terrible consequences of such a foolish and cruel act, when the Mariner loses his crew and finds himself alone and doomed to wander the earth, telling people like the young Wedding Guest his woeful story and warning them to always think before they act.

A subsidiary theme of the poem is that one should respect nature and all living things. The Mariner never gives any reason for shooting the albatross;it seems as if he does so simply because he has the power to do so. However, the swift vengeance that follows shows how wrong it is to break man’s communion with nature in this fashion. The Mariner sums up this lesson as follows:

He prayeth best, who loveth best

All things great and small;

For the dear God who loveth us,

He made and loveth all. (614-617)

This quote takes on a distinctly religious aspect, directly referring to God and conjuring up a picture of a joyful, harmonious world of universal love. The Mariner has suffered grievously in going against this ideal and serves as a living example of folly.

The central message of the poem, then, is quite a simple one, but it is dressed up in the memorable guise of a vivid supernatural tale which has helped to ensure its popularity to this day. 

What are the supernatural elements in Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

The supernatural elements actually appear with the albatross, which has arrived in order to help guide the Mariner's ship through a fog bank.  When the Ancient Mariner kills the albatross, he has not only violated concepts of gratitude and hospitality, he has, on a whim, killed a living being that has come to same him and his ship.  I believe we are meant to see the albatross, in part, in a Christian context--like Christ, who came to earth to save us, the albatross arrives to save the mariners and their ship, and the reward for this generosity is his execution.

Nature itself becomes relentlessly supernatural after the killing of the albatross: the wind stops, temperatures climb, drinking water runs out.  These are not merely problems for a ship at sea; they are all life-threatening.  The crew, sensing its own complicity in the Mariner's action, decide to hang the albatross around his neck, an allusion to the concept of the Judeo-Christian scapegoat, who wears an amulet representing the sins of the people and is sent into the desert to die for everyone's sins.

As we know, several horrific supernatural elements seal the fate of the ship and crew--slimy snakes from the bottom of the ocean come to the ship; a ghost-ship, with the figures of Death and Death-in-Life, arrives and the entire crew dies (Death) but the Mariner remains alive (Death-in-Life).

The Mariner's salvation comes when he, unconsciously and full of pity, blesses the slimy sea snakes, and the albatross falls from his neck, an indication that Nature and/or God has forgiven his original sin of killing the albatross.  His penance, however, is not complete, for he has to keep telling his story, first to the hermit on the pilot boat and then to the Wedding Guest.  It's only after the repeated telling of this awful tale that the Ancient Mariner achieves some peace.  Unfortunately, the Wedding Guest is negatively affected by the tale, avoids the wedding, and wakes up the next day "a sadder and wiser man."

The supernatural elements, then, themselves contain elements of Nature's wrath at wanton cruelty, as well as implicitly Christian elements, that together create the retribution the Mariner suffers and the salvation he is offered at the end.

What are the supernatural elements in Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

This literary ballad clearly contains many fantastical elements that are obviously supernatural. Important to note is the way that Coleridge in this poem creates a spirit that embodies Nature itself, called the Polar Spirit, that pursues the ship and rains down suffering and punishment on the vessel because of the thoughtless act of the Mariner in killing the albatross. However, arguably these supernatural elements are used as a way of presenting the torments that guilt can inflict on the human soul and the terrible expiation necessary for those who sin against nature in such a shocking fashion.

Of course, the pain and guilt experienced by the Mariner are a product of the pain and guilt of Coleridge himself, as suffered through his opium addiction, and so we are left to wonder if the fantastical elements that feature so strongly in this poem are dreamt up out of the opium-fevered imagination of its author. Either way, the supernatural elements show the force of The Polar Spirit, representing Nature, and the danger of taking Nature for granted.

What are the supernatural elements in Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a first-generation Romantic poet. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is filled with many of the characteristics of Romantic writing, including a respect for nature (the sin of killing the albatross), melancholy (as seen with the mariner's state of mind), and especially the supernatural—anything beyond the natural world. While today's reader might consider witches and vampires to be supernatural, Coleridge incorporates spirits, angels, and ghosts; he also includes supernatural powers.

The poem is filled with the supernatural. When the ship is becalmed (a punishment for killing of the albatross), the crew is dying of thirst:

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink. (118-119)

Initially the reader might think that the mariner is delirious because of his terrible thirst, but he is not. First he notes strange lights shining in the water.  Then he reports that a spirit is following the ship:

And some in dreams assured were

Of the spirit that plagued us so:

Nine fathom deep he had followed us... (128-130)

Side notes indicate that some of the crew members have dreamt of this spirit—it is that of the dead albatross. Next, the mariner sees ships approaching:

A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist! ...

It plunged and tacked and veered […] (150, 153)

[I] cried, A sail! a sail! (156-157)

Initially it seems as if the crew may be saved, but as the ship gets closer, what they see brings no relief. The first hint that this is not a normal ship is that it is sailing without the wind, for the sea is still becalmed. Then as the ship grows closer, the mariner sees that as it passes in front of the setting sun, the sun's rays shine through the boards of the ship: for what approaches is "the skeleton of a ship." Using personification, the sun is described as looking through the ship:

As if through a dungeon-grate he peered... (176)

As the ghost ship approaches, the mariner can see that the sails are like cobwebs; then he observes the ghost ship's crew—a woman and her mate:

And is that Woman all her crew?

Is that a DEATH? and are there two?

Is DEATH that woman's mate? (184-186)

The woman is described with amazing imagery.

Her skin was as white as leprosy... (189)

The mariner notes:

The Night-Mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she... (190)

These two supernatural beings have come to the dying crew. And as the mariner watches, the two gamble for the souls of the crew members. Life-in-Death raises a triumphant cry that she has won, and the "spectre-bark" (ghost ship) leaves in a flash. Two hundred crew members drop dead on the deck (souls that Death won), leaving only the mariner alive.

For days he feels the curse of the eyes of the dead men. Finally the mariner praises nature and is blessed. It rains; the wind returns. In that moment, the dead men stand (inhabited by "angelic spirits") to sail the ship. Then two spirits speak as the mariner rests in a daze. Ultimately the ship returns to the mariner's "native country." When it suddenly sinks, the mariner is thrown into the water and is rescued by a small boat in which travels a holy man ("hermit"), who pardons him.

The supernatural comes to the mariner once more on land—as part of his penance...

...till my ghastly tale is told,

This heart within me burns. (581-582)

The lesson the mariner has learned during his journey and supernatural encounters is:

He prayeth well, who loveth well

Both man and bird and beast. (609-610)

What are the supernatural elements in Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

First thing is to be sure you understand the structure of the poem. I've included a link to the enotes study guide on "Ancient Mariner" that will definitely help you. Knowing that the mariner is telling a story to a wedding guest about a journey he has taken to the South Pole, which is the bulk of the poem, and then is destined to find individuals to continue telling his tale to, is crucial. The journey south is crucial, since this is symbolic of a journey toward the unknown, a place a of magic and dreams, a place of unreality, even Hell, in come cases. So it makes sense that the supernatural elements occur on this journey to the south. 

The other thing for you to consider is before writing your response is to choose what supernatural elements you want, then explain their significance. That's an important piece to your prompt: "how they add to the events that take place". Basically, you're explaining what the mariner learns from witnessing these supernatural forces and elements.

So write a topic sentence to your response, introducing the title, the author, and the concept you will be discussing ("supernatural elements"). Then give a quick 1-2 sentence summary of the poem that will get you to a moment where you can explain / describe / quote an example of a supernatural power. In the sentence following your example / quote, then immediately explain its significance (how this affects the mariner or what he learns). To develop your response well, use another, different example of a supernatural element; use a quote from the poem as an example of that element, and then explain, again, how this moment affects the mariner or what he learns from this. The final 1-2 sentences of your paragraph should tie this altogether, coming back to mention the author and what Coleridge's mariner learns from the entire journey and how important these supernatural elements are to his journey.

Possible supernatural ideas: "slimy things did crawl with legs / Upon the slimy sea" (watersnakes and their colors); the crew who drops dead and then return to life; the "seraph-men" who light the way toward the north (angels); the "strange shape" with a woman and DEATH in part III; the constant power of the moon and wind and its effect and descriptions.

How does "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" explore penance and redemption?

A dream by Coleridge’s friend, John Cruikshank, was the inspiration for “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” Coleridge and poet William Wordsworth discussed Cruikshank’s dream, with Wordsworth suggesting that Coleridge incorporate elements of the dream into a poem based on a crime committed on a ship at sea. The crime, Wordsworth suggested, should be the heart of the narrative, driving the development of plot, character, and theme. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” reflects Wordsworth’s suggestions, but the poem is more complex than a tale of crime and punishment. The Mariner’s crime is committed against God, not man, and the narrative develops as an examination of sin, penance, and redemption. Moreover, the nature of the Mariner’s crime underscores the darkest aspect of human nature—the desire to destroy simply for the love of destruction.

The Mariner’s killing the albatross serves no apparent purpose. The bird poses no threat to him or to his shipmates; the albatross, in fact, seems to have brought the men luck after a violent storm had driven their ship off course, sending it into the icy realm of the South Pole. Coming out of the snow and fog, the bird escorts the ship away from the South Pole and flies nearby as it follows the ship north into fair weather. The albatross comes when the men call it “for food or play,” and it rests on the ship at night, perching on the mast and rigging. The “sweet bird” remains with the ship day after day, a faithful companion, until the Mariner shoots it with his crossbow, committing a deliberate act of destruction with no purpose at all, except to exercise his will.

Much suffering ensues before the Mariner realizes that in destroying the albatross, he has committed a grievous sin against God; recalling the act many years later, he tells the wedding guest, “I had done a hellish thing.” It is only when he finds himself alone on the ship, surrounded by the dead, becalmed on a “rotting sea,” and unable to pray that his selfish pride is broken and he recognizes his place in creation. Looking beyond the shadow of the ship, he sees in the moonlight the beauty of God’s handiwork in the water snakes that “coiled and swam” in the sea, “every track … a flash of golden fire.” Overwhelmed with love for the “happy living things” too beautiful to describe, he blesses them and takes a first step on a long road toward redemption.

When the wedding guest encounters the Mariner, now so old he is “ancient,” the Mariner will not be denied the opportunity to tell his story yet again, reliving the experience while sharing the truth it imparted to him. Many years after killing the albatross, the gravity of his sin still haunts him; when the “agony returns,” he must confess his sin once more by telling his “ghastly tale.” He continues to do penance for his sin by traveling “from land to land” to find men who most need to learn what he has to teach them, the spiritual truth summarized at the poem’s conclusion:

He prayeth best, who loveth best

All things both great and small;

For the dear God who loveth us,

He made and loveth all.

Through great suffering, the ancient Mariner had learned the true nature of mankind’s relationship to God and to God’s creation. He understands that senseless destruction is born of pride, humility is born of suffering, love is born of humility, and only in love can salvation be found.

What is the theme of sin and redemption in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is, to a large extent, an allegory of sin and redemption. At the time he wrote the poem, Coleridge was becoming ever more convinced of the truth of orthodox Christian beliefs and saw Christianity as encapsulating a universal wisdom that could provide certainty in a world beset by chronic instability. Under the influence of St. Augustine, Coleridge also came to believe in the truth of original sin, that man is born into a fallen state, a state of sin that he has inherited from mankind's first ancestors: Adam and Eve. But as there is sin, so too must there be an opportunity for redemption. More than anything else, Christianity, especially as Coleridge understood it, is a creed of hope and renewal, of salvation and redemption, and in the figure of the Mariner, we see a regeneration of the individual sinner.

In shooting the albatross, the Mariner shows contempt for God’s creation, setting his own will against that of the Almighty. The unfortunate bird has been hailed by the sailors as if it were a Christian soul. Yet the Mariner’s worldly pride prevents him from realizing this, and so he kills the albatross, treating it like an object rather than as one of God’s creatures. The Mariner and his shipmates, who approve of his sinful actions, have now cut themselves adrift from God, and float aimlessly upon the becalmed sea, seemingly without hope of being reconciled to their maker:

Alone, alone, all all alone Alone in a wide wide sea! And never a Saint took pity on My soul is agony.

Having committed this sin, however, the Mariner is graciously offered a chance for redemption. God hasn’t abandoned him completely. As he watches the water snakes moving beneath the moonlit waves, the Mariner feels an overwhelming sense of joy at the wonders of God’s creation. He has not yet been fully redeemed, but his re-connection with the sacredness of the natural world is an important first step in a long, arduous process of regeneration.

What is the theme of sin and redemption in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

Let us remember that this essentially is the tale of one man's sin or transgression and his slow path back to redeeming himself from that sin. Of course, in the process, both he and the rest of the crew that he is sailing with suffer greatly and see many strange sights. Even though the Mariner is the only one to survive his experience, it is clear that this survival is a mixed blessing, as he leads some kind of half-life, forever haunted by his experience.

The sin that he commits is of course killing the albatross with his crossbow, which was taken as a symbol of good luck by the sailors. Note the response of the other sailors to the Mariner's action in shooting the crossbow:

And I had done a hellish thing,

And it would work 'em woe:

For all averred, I had killed the bird

That made the breeeze to blow.

Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,

That made the breeze to blow!

The continuing breeze was linked to the "lucky" presence of the albatross, and therefore the sailors predict bad things will befall the ship and its crew thanks to the slaughter of the albatross.

The sin and punishment is symbolised in the way that the Mariner must wear the dead albatross hung around his neck. Symbolically, this continues until he manages to redeem himself in Part IV of the poem by blessing nature in the form of the water snakes that he sees in the sea:

O happy living things! no tongue

Their beauty might declare:

A spring of love gushed from my heart,

And I blessed them unaware:

Sure my kind saint took pity on me,

And I blessed them unaware.

It is this action of blessing nature in the form of the water snakes that is seen as being sufficient to counteract the harm the Mariner caused to nature by killing the albatross in the first place, and thus at this stage the albatross falls from the Mariner's neck and falls "like lead into the sea." As if to reinforce the redemption that the Mariner has gained, he is able to pray at this stage as well.

How are crime, punishment, and redemption themes developed in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

The albatross represents all three of these concepts: crime, punishment, and redemption.

The mariner's crime is the slaying of the beautiful albatross. The mariner has no reason to do this violent deed, yet he kill the bird anyway. The albatross had been a source of comfort and joy to the crew up until this point, so the murder was unwarranted.

This is how the mariner describes the albatross initially:

As if it had been a Christian soul,

We hailed it in God's name.

Until the albatross' death, the crew had treated it with kindness and given it food.

The albatross also is key in the punishment of the mariner. The bird is tied around the mariner's neck to remind him of his guilt. Death comes on a ship to take the entirety of the crew, except the mariner. This leaves him alone with the dead bodies of his shipmates and the body of the albatross. The mariner's shame is so thick, that he likens himself to the slimy things in life and is not able to pray.

And a thousand thousand slimy things

Lived on; and so did I.

Quoth he, 'The man hath penance done, And penance more will do.'

How are crime, punishment, and redemption themes developed in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

I would want to respond to this question by focusing on the way the Mariner himself receives the retribution of nature for what he does in his foolish act of killing the albatross. We can see that this act of meaningless violence against nature has an immediate impact on the Mariner and his fellow sailors, as is shown in the following stanza:

And I had done a hellish thing,

And it would work 'em woe:

For all averred, I had killed the bird

That made the breeze to blow.

The subsequent trials and tribulations that the Mariner and his fellow crewmen suffer, which include the death of all of the other sailors, are part of nature's retribution against the Mariner for what he had done and the way that he had abused nature and exploited it. First of all, there is no breeze whatsoever, and then "slimy things" come up from the detphs of the ocean. These trials continue until the Mariner is able to bless nature in a different form, and thus break the curse that hangs around him. However, retribution is a central theme of this poem and occupies a major part of the poem.

How are crime, punishment, and redemption themes developed in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

Note the way that the theme of imprisonment enters this excellent poem immediately after the Mariner shoots the albatross. Note the way in which the action of the Mariner effectively imprisons the sailors on the ship, as the mystical absence of any wind prevents them from moving:

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;

As idle as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

This imprisonment is something that lasts for a very long time, until after the Mariner's curse is expiated. Note the way that he, after all of his fellow sailors die, is imprisoned on the ship by himself and left to face the ghoulish and nightmarish events that happen around him. Even after he gets back safely to land, and watches the destruction of his ship, he is still "imprisoned" as he bears the burden of his experiences, and feels doomed to live his life wandering around recounting his tale:

I pass, like night, from land to land;

I have strange power of speech;

That moment that his face I see,

I konw the man that must hear me:

To him my tale I teach.

From the moment that the Mariner shoots the albatross, therefore, it is obvious that he suffers a feeling of imprisonment. Firstly this is based on the lack of wind that prevents the ship from moving anywhere, and then secondly the way in which his experiences are not forgotten and compel him to wander around the earth and recount his tale.

Why is "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" considered a Romantic poem?

Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads was such an important milestone in the history of Romanticism that the Romantic period in England is sometimes dated from 1798, the year it first appeared in print. Wordsworth contributed many poems to the collection, and Coleridge contributed only one. That one, however, was a long, complex, and highly significant text: "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

Given the status of the Lyrical Ballads as a manifesto of Romanticism, it is hardly surprising that it has so many of the quintessential features of Romantic poetry. The lines are short, and the words are simple and direct. The poem concerns common people in heroic situations. The mariner is a social outcast, forcing society (in the persona of the wedding guest) to hear his message (for who is more socially included than a wedding guest?). The poem deals with elemental forces of nature and what happens when humankind fails to respect these forces. The atmosphere of the poem (in particular, the mariner's narration) is highly emotional and is intended to arouse strong emotions in the reader. All these factors mark the poem out as Romantic.

Why is "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" considered a Romantic poem?

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is a Romantic poem in that it offers up a picture of nature as an organic whole. Coleridge passionately believed that each and every creature in God's creation was joined together in a primal unity. From the highest to the lowest, all of God's creatures have their part to play in his creation. Even the humble albatross has his place in nature, which it is no one's business to disturb.

This would explain why the mariner brings so much misfortune on himself and his fellow shipmates by killing an albatross. In doing so, he has disturbed the intricate fabric of God's creation. As the mariner is part of the same organic whole as the bird, in killing it, he is killing a part of himself. If just one part of this whole should suffer, then we all suffer. In killing the bird, the mariner has unwittingly undermined the balance of primal forces that exists in the natural world, and he must suffer before that natural balance is restored.

Why is "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" considered a Romantic poem?

Romanticism emerged as a sort of reaction against the Age of Reason and all of its characteristics. As such, the characteristics of Romanticism tend to be the opposite of Age of Reason characteristics. Where the Age of Reason leans toward logic and plausibility, Romanticism leans much more heavily toward the imaginative and fantastical. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" fits those characteristics. Coleridge crafted a poem around an ancient mariner narrating about a ship adventure complete with undead sailors. (Coleridge was creating the Pirates of Caribbean motif long before Disney did it.) Romanticism also has a heavy focus on the importance of nature, and this poem has that element as well. It can be argued that everything bad that happened to the mariner and the rest of the crew resulted from mankind's killing of the albatross. Finally, Romanticism does also tend to focus on societal outcasts. People like tramps and beggars hold a special place of importance in Romantic literature, and that is exactly who the Mariner is. He is a man who wanders about looking for specific people to tell his amazing tale to.

Why is "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" considered a Romantic poem?

By Romantic Poetry, that means that it possesses qualities of the Romantic Era.  In Romantic poetry, the authors began doing new things.  First, they used common language.  Many of the poets used dialect, which brought in a whole new audience, not just the wealthy and educated.  Second, they used emotion in their writings.  The third one is what ties "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" to the Romantic period.  Nature was used more openly than ever before.  The theme of this poem is that we must respect nature in all of its forms.  This poem was written by Coleridge, and it was in the collection of poetry that he and Wordsworth put together (Lyrical Ballads).  Wordsworth was known as the Father of English Romanticism.

Why is "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" considered a Romantic poem?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" displays characteristics of both Romantic and modern poetry.

The poem's Romantic elements stand out clearly. It contains, for instance, a strong sense of the supernatural. The mariner's experiences with the albatross, the death ship, and the powers and spirits of the sea are all supernatural and deeply Romantic, as is the poem's emphasis on descriptions of the natural world. The poet even personifies elements of nature, like the wind and water—yet another Romantic trend. Over all this lies a strong component of Christian spirituality. The albatross may be interpreted as a symbol of Christ, for instance, and the mariner finds salvation through prayer and learns that love of all creatures is the true meaning of life.

That said, however, "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" also contains some modern elements that shift away from Romanticism. Coleridge, for instance, experiments with his poetic form, as many modern poets do. He varies his stanza lengths rather than keeping them consistent throughout, and his meter is sometimes rather loose and variable as well. Even his rhyme scheme varies significantly throughout the poem. Further, Coleridge inserts marginal glosses next to the primary text of the poem that offer a secondary perspective. He also deliberately plays with his language, using archaic forms to enhance the linguistic interest of the poem. These kinds of experiments are largely modern in nature.

What are the main events in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" for a timeline?

In Part 1, the mariner stops the wedding guest, against the will of the guest, and begins to tell him his tale.  The mariner tells how his ship sailed south toward the South Pole and found themselves stuck in the ice.  About the same time that they broke free of the ice, the albatross came around and the mariner shot it with his crossbow.  In Part 2, the ship has turned around and is headed north.  At first, the crew is angry with the mariner for having shot the bird because, they said, it had brought the mist and snow.  Then as the crew continues its journey northward, they get into a period of no wind to propel the ship and they are stalled while quickly running low on supplies.  Now they blame the mariner for killing the bird that they say brought them luck, so they hang the bird around his neck.  In Part 3, the men are all dying on the ship because of lack of food and water while the hot sun bakes them.  The mariner sees a phantom ship approach carrying two figures: Death and Life-in-Death.  Then every man on the ship, except for the mariner, dies and his soul leaves his body.  The mariner continues to live (because Life-in-Death) "won" him in the dice-toss with Death.  As he lives, he begins to undergo a transformation from seeing nature as ugly to seeing it as beautiful.  Part IV: the transformation continues as the mariner's words describing nature around him go from such expressions as "slimy things" to "rich attire".  As soon as the mariner sees the true beauty in nature and comes to appreciate that all living things deserve respect, the albatross falls off his neck.  In Part V, the Polar Spirit begins to move the ship and the mariner falls down in a faint.  While in that faint, two fellow spirits talk about the mariner saying that he has paid some penance for his sin of killing the innocent bird, but he has more penance to pay.  Part VI continues that conversation as the spirit that was moving the ship leaves and the real wind takes over propelling the ship, along with spirit-propelled dead crew mates, toward home.  As the ship gets near the harbor, each dead crew member's spirit leaves his body and this time, forgives the mariner.  Once in the harbor, a boat approaches.  In the boat are the pilot of the boat, his son, and a holy man (hermit).  In the last part, part VII, as the boat approaches the mariner's ship, a loud noise is heard from under the sea and the mariner's ship sinks.  The mariner is rescued and asks the holy man for forgiveness.  The mariner now tells the wedding guest that his life-long penance is to wander the rest of his life and to tell his story to the occasional person.  He knows which person to stop when he sees something in the face of the passerby.  The mariner says that he has learned the lesson that all of God's creatures should be respected.

What is the main theme and ultimate goal of Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

The main theme of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is expressed by the mariner just before he lets the wedding guests go. He states,

He prayeth well, who loveth well

Both man and bird and beast. 

He prayeth best, who loveth best

All things both great and small.

In other words, the person who will receive favor from God is the one who displays love towards all of God's creatures, including people, but also including animals and even the least admired members of creation. The theme is worked out in the plot of the poem when the mariner shoots an albatross that has been a friend to the ship's crew. Because of that cruel and senseless act, which the men at one point approve of, the crew (except the mariner) is killed and the mariner must experience "Life-in-Death." Only when the mariner looks with admiration on the water-snakes is he rewarded. His hard heart is able to pray at last, rain comes, and the polar spirits, with the help of seraph-men who inhabit the corpses, sail the ship back to harbor. The mariner must spend the rest of his life sharing his tale with people who need to hear it.

That is the theme of the poem. The goal, however, is certainly very different. One cannot help but be disappointed at the end of this harrowing tale to find this trite and somewhat shallow sentiment. Even Coleridge felt that he had been too heavy-handed in expressing the moral at the end of the poem, suggesting that the communication of the moral was not his "goal" in writing the poem. No doubt Coleridge's goal was the goal of all great poetry, namely, "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings." The poet, according to Wordsworth, feels deep passions and puts those feelings into beautiful, rhythmic, lyrical words in order to allow the reader to experience those same emotions. In Coleridge's poem, the harrowing tale of the supernatural--a tale of nail-biting Gothic enchantment--arouses fear, awe, disgust, anger, joy, and relief in the reader, making it a thrilling experience. Readers have enjoyed reading about the mariner's agonies for over two hundred years, attesting to the fact that Coleridge absolutely achieved his goal. 

What is the main theme and ultimate goal of Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

Love is the overarching theme of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." This love embraces all of creation, not just human beings, and drives the entire narrative.

Punishment follows when a mariner kills an albatross the men on his ship have fed and befriended. The poem depicts the albatross as a friendly and innocent creature, worthy of love, not destruction.

The mariner must do penance, forced to wander the earth, and unable either to sleep or die. When he blesses a sea serpent, he earns partial redemption: he is allowed to sleep. This reinforces the poem's theme about the redeeming and healing power of loving acts. Further, when the mariner tells his story to a guest en route to a wedding, he hopes both to share his wisdom as well as to earn forgiveness for his sin.

The mariner's ultimate goal is to find his final rest, while the poet has a different goal: he uses a gripping and dramatic tale to communicate a message about love's importance. 

What three Romantic Age elements are evident in Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

The previous post was extremely thorough.  I would like to add one more element present in the poem.  The relationship with nature as being one where human beings must live in harmony with the creatures of consciousness is a profound one in the poem.  The killing of the albatross and the bad sense of karma that transpires because of it is not only radical for its time period, but one of the most profound elements of Romanticism.  Romantics believed in the natural setting, but they also stressed that there must be a synchronicity between humans and the world in which they inhabit.  At a time when individuals were appropriating the world in accordance to their own material subjectivity, such a belief was ahead of its time.  There is this social sensitivity that Coleridge is unabashed in showing and displaying, representative of Romantic thought and insightful in its essence.   It is through this act that the supernatural can happen and the revelation that humans are a part, not the whole, of the natural setting.

What three Romantic Age elements are evident in Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"?

Three elements of writing characteristic of the Romantic Age that are present in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner are a view of nature as a place of purity and peace in which God is manifest, an emphasis on dreams and visions, and a focus on emotion and feeling.

Romantics viewed nature as a pure and healing element, a place where God could be found. It is significant that when the albatross first appears, the sailors greet it "as if it had been a Christian soul (and) hailed it in God's name" (lines 64-65). Because it is part of nature, the albatross is treated with reverence and respect. When the Mariner kills the albatross, he has placed himself at odds with nature, and nature expresses this disharmony, with "slimy things (that) crawl with legs upon the slimy sea" (lines 122-123), and the water burning "like a witch's oils...green and blue and white" (lines 126-127).

Dreams and visions are often found in Romantic literature. During the darkest hours of his punishment, the Mariner sees a lurid picture of the sun shining through a skeleton ship, "as if through a dungeon grate...with broad and burning face" (lines 176-177). On the skeleton ship he envisions two ghostly figures playing with dice, one called "Death," and the other "Life in Death" (lines 184-191).

In Romantic literature, emotions are given great importance. As his penance for killing the albatross, the Mariner is doomed to endure bouts of agony which return "at an uncertain hour" throughout his life, which can only be alleviated by retelling his tale (lines 579-582). The person who must be the recipient of his recitation is also determined by feeling alone; the Mariner says, "The moment that his face I see, I know the man that must hear me" (lines 586-587). 

How does "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" exemplify the characteristics of the Romantic Period?

A fine question. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" exemplifies the Romantic period through the following:
1) It created exotic and imaginary alternatives to known society.
2) It emphasized the power of poetry (the Mariner telling the story).
3) It accented the power of the image (the albatross!)
4) It accented the importance of emotion, and of individual action.
5) It happened in a symbolic dreamscape, one full of meaning.
6) It incorporate Gothic/horror elements, another period development (see Frankenstein for example).
7) It uses relatively ordinary speech, a conscious choice on the part of the Romantic poets.

How does "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" convey a sense of occult powers and unknown modes of being?

One way in which Samuel Taylor Coleridge evokes an atmosphere of the occult in the poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is through color. He uses the color black very effectively, to create images of fear and horror such as the effects of thirst, sunburn or disease as in "black lips baked." He also paints the sea and its scapes in unnatural colors and has it appear boiling and writhing. The idea of a curse also has connotations with witches spells and charms. There are weird unearthly creatures such as sea snakes and a ship which appears to sail unmanned. An albatross has been killed unthinkingly, and the poet tries to show us what unnatural forces can be unleashed when we fail to respect the beauty and simple truth of Nature.

Describe the medieval and romantic elements in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

One way of analysing the Romantic elements of this incredible poem is looking at the role of nature and how it is shown to exert power over humans. Let us remember that Romanticism was dubbed as a "return to nature" and it emphasised the importance and the role of nature in our lives and how rationalism was taking us away from that. The strident message of this poem, as the Mariner learns to his cost, is that we cannot treat nature in a disrespectful way, as if we do, Nature will wreak her own revenge. Consider what happens straight after the Mariner kills the albatross:

And I had done a hellish thing

And it would work 'em woe:

For all averred, I had killed the bird

That made the breeze to blow.

Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,

That made the breeze to blow.

The Mariner, and the Wedding Guest by extension, learns that Nature is not something to be trifled with, or gainsaid or forgotten.

Secondly, considering medieval elements, one of the interesting aspects of this poem is the high number of archaic words, or words that are no longer used in society. Consider the following example:

Nor dim nor red, like God's own head,

The glorious Sun uprist.

"Uprist" is clearly an anachronistic word that is obviously no longer used in English language, yet the use of this poem clearly links it to a medieval past that, as the poem shows, still has an impact on us today.

What makes "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" obviously from the Romantic Period? Give examples to support.

Rime is from the Romantic Era because of the aspects which define romantic literature.  These include the supernatural, the love of nature, the individual instead of the good of society as a whole, emotion vs. reason, and imagination vs. logic.

In Rime, supernatural occurs several times.  First, the mariner "holds" the wedding guest in a sort of trance for the telling of the story.  Also, the ghost ship appears without wind or current, the ship is sailed by angel-possessed bodies of the crew.

Nature is paramount with the killing of the albatross and the blessing of the sea snakes.  He also makes it a theme with the quote "all creatures great and small, the lord God made them all".

The mariner is the individual in this tale.  He survives, but is destined to seek out one individual at a time forever to whom he will tell his tale. It is usually a person who needs to hear the tale and learn the lesson.

There is much emotion in the poem as well--although the mariner never truly gets "emotional" there is anger from the sailors who suspect their bad luck is due to the mariner's murdering the albatross.  There is shock from the Pilot and the Pilot's boy about the mariner's appearance.

Imagination is evident as well.  There is much original material here encompassed in the frame story of the wedding guest being held hostage and missing the wedding in order to learn to respect all creatures in nature.

What are the characteristics of high romanticism in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?

I'm guessing that you are asking about literary Romanticism, such as Coleridge's. Some characteristics of Romanticism are:

a delight in the past/the Gothic/the medieval

orientalism/interest in the exotic

primitivism

anti-intellectualism

sentimentalism/enjoying emotion for its own sake

humanitarianism

democracy/hostility to monarchial authority

originality/diversity

confessionalism

belief in the purgative purpose of art (for the artist)

love of nature, especially the wild and picturesque

glorification of the commonplace

In part, Romanticism was a response to the Industrial Revolution's more mechanical, urban world. This new world created a hunger for intense personal emotion, fantasy, mystery and heroes.