Tintern Abby And Ancient Mariner Essay Research

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Compare and Contrast “Tintern Abbey” with “Ancient Mariner”

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is just to love, and be loved in return” This was sung by Nature Boy and I feel like it connects fairly well with Wordsworth’s Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey and Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. How this quote relates is because in relation to these two poems it is saying that if you love something and care for it than it will do the same to you. In Tintern Abbey this thing would be nature. Nature does so much for us if we respect it. By destroying it we are only hurting ourselves in the end. This is essentially what the character in the poem is saying. He realizes when looking at his sister reflect on this area how important it is and how wonderful it is. He realizes how much it has done for him. He has many memories from Tintern Abbey and it had brought him so much when he was a young boy.

In The Ancient Mariner this thing that must be loved is the Albatross. There is no reason for which the mariner should have killed the Albatross, just like there is no good reason to damage nature. By killing the Albatross he was performing something very anti-Christian which in turn will bring upon equally horrible things in his direction. The Albatross is the pious bird of good omen, so this in itself is saying that it is going to serve you well and do good for you if you just respect it. By killing it he had reversed that good omen which he would have had, and now he has brought upon himself this wrath of bad luck.

The figure of the hermit appears in both of these poems, and in both of them this person is in some ways the ideal person, or the person who does right. In Tintern Abbey the hermit is the person that is away from everybody else, and who is very in touch with himself. Wordsworth writes, “These pastoral farms, green to the very door Or of some Hermit’s cave, where by his fire The Hermit sits alone.” (lines 16-22) The image that I get of the Hermit is that of a respected man who is very in tune with his surroundings and respects them. I get a good and respectable image of this Hermit. From reading this poem I am reminded of Henry David Thoreau. Thoreau was a very respectable man in the history of our country, and he earned this respect by essentially becoming a hermit. Thoreau secluded himself from everybody and lived alone in the wilderness for many years. He became very much in touch with his surroundings which was looked highly upon and gained him a lot of respect.

The Hermit in The Ancient Mariner was like a monk, away from everybody and very in touch with himself. In this poem the hermit is a very powerful creature. When he comes along things become better again. The ship sinks and the sin of killing the Albatross is forgiven and forgotten. The hermit has a very innocent and free soul, which is evident by the power he has and how he is able to relieve some situations and make them better.

I think that it is interesting that Wordsworth is the one that added in the bit about the killing of the Albatross. I think that this might have been one of his major concerns and causes. I think that he felt very strongly that everyone love their surroundings and everyone. He conveyed this message very well through both of these pieces of writing.

I definitely think that the overall message of these poems is fit by the words of nature boy, “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn, is just to love, and be loved in return.” I know that the man who visited Tintern Abbey felt this way by the way he was reflecting on the nature which surrounded him, and I hope that the mariner learned this lesson through his horrific travels at sea which were brought upon him.