Religious Allegory and the 'One Life'

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (TROTAM) has many undeniable religious references and symbolism throughout the seven part ballad that has been used to categorise  it as a Christian Allegory. A key religious symbol in TROTAM is the infamous Albatross whose short life caused havoc in critics since the ballad's publication in 1798. The Albatross is widely considered to be a symbol for the son of God due to its description as a 'Christian soul' and supported by the comparison of Jesus to a bird in Christian symbolism. This symbol is developed as the Mariner is punished for shooting the Albatross which is suggested to be the anger of God for killing his son. The shape of the Albatross is also resemblant of the Christian cross which is commonly hung around the neck in the same way the Albatross is hung around the Mariner's neck. However, here the Albatross is suggested to symbolise the burden of sin as is is compared explicitly to the cross on which Christ was crucified. The fact that the Albatross replaces the Mariner's cross suggests that the Mariner is being abandoned by God for killing the Albatross. When the Albatross falls off there is the implication that the Mariner's neck is now bare which suggests that he has now no religious allegiance or placement; this idea is supported and developed as it suggested that the Mariner is being baptised in Part V when he is completely saturated and then again with the appearance of the Hermit, who's entrance suggests a religious conversion when the Mariner is saved by him. Around this point it is made explicit that the Mariner is has been re-born in 'seven days' which connects the story to Genesis in the Christian Bible; by telling his tale to the Hermit the Mariner gains a new life of penance, travelling with a didactic message which by telling relieves his agony. The key religious connection in TROTAM is its moral that the Mariner learns to his journey to respect God's creations which is the didactic message the Mariner has to teach to the Wedding Guest. In the end he tells him: 

'He prayeth best, who loveth best 

All things both great and small; 

For the dear God who loveth us, 

He made and loveth all' 

teaching the Wedding Guest to appreciate God's creations and God himself as he made us and loves us. This stanza also connects to the Christian religion in the line 'All things both great and small' which reflects the lyric in the popular Christian hymn 'All things bright and beautiful'.

TROTAM's connection to Coleridge's 'One Life' theory is evident in the Mariner having to find harmony with God's creations to earn redemption. In the stanza in Part IV 

'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.'

The rhyme of rhythm in the stanza echoes a harmony and unity which reflects the concept of the ‘One Life’. The rhyming and rhythm is near perfect in its refection of each line, the syllables also being equal, creates the equal, tranquil rhythm. The stanza also narrates the Mariner finally seeing the beauty in sea snakes and their wildness, which again takes us back to the ‘One Life’ belief. The story of the Ancient Mariner very much reflects the ‘One Life’ belief therefore, in that the Mariner finds harmony and unity with his surrounding and God creations (reflecting opposite ideas finding harmony in the ‘One Life’s’ ideas) representing the belief that ‘humanity and nature are united’ in order to ‘find the divine within nature’. This appreciation earns the Mariner his redemption, as he has learnt from his barbarous act of  shooting the Albatross that all of these creatures are beautiful and have purpose in the world