Season 3 Podcast 33 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Pts III & IV

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Pts 3 & 4  In the previous Podcast, the Ancient Mariner shot the Albatross wantonly, violating the law of hospitality for they had invited the bird aboard their ship, fed him, and played with him.  Because of his great sin, the entire ship is cursed. Without fresh water to drink they are all near death.  They hang the albatross around the Mariner’s neck for punishment. One must keep in mind that the albatross is the largest bird on earth that can fly, with a possible wingspan of eleven feet. Its weight and rotting flesh would be a horrendous burden. It symbolizes the heavy weight and grossness of unrepented sins. But the road to redemption has only just begun. In Part 3 the sea grows from strange to stranger till they see the death ship itself coming toward them. On the ship, death is playing dice for their souls. It brings to mind the words of Paul. “The sting of death is sin.”  PART THE THIRD.      There passed a weary time.  Each throat     Was parched, and glazed each eye.     A weary time! a weary time!     How glazed each weary eye,     When looking westward, I beheld     A something in the sky.      At first it seemed a little speck,     And then it seemed a mist:     It moved and moved, and took at last     A certain shape, I wist.      A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!     And still it neared and neared:     As if it dodged a water-sprite,     It plunged and tacked and veered.      With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,     We could not laugh nor wail;     Through utter drought all dumb we stood!     I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,     And cried, A sail! a sail! The mariners in their giddiness, not knowing that it is the death ship, begin to rejoice.  They think the ship is bringing good fortune.      With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,     Agape they heard me call:     Gramercy! they for joy did grin,     And all at once their breath drew in,     As they were drinking all.      See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more!     Hither to work us weal;     Without a breeze, without a tide,     She steadies with upright keel!      The western wave was all a-flame     The day was well nigh done!     Almost upon the western wave     Rested the broad bright Sun;     When that strange shape drove suddenly     Betwixt us and the Sun. They begin to fear because the ship sails without breeze or tide on a steady course. For mariners they fear the unnatural and see it as a very bad omen. The sails are more like spider webs than canvas.      And straight the Sun was flecked with bars,     (Heaven's Mother send us grace!)     As if through a dungeon-grate he peered,     With broad and burning face.      Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud)     How fast she nears and nears!     Are those her sails that glance in the Sun,     Like restless gossameres!