 Also referred
to as ANIMAL MAGNETISM
 Connected with 16th Century tradition,
originating toward the middle of the century
 Mesmerism—ascribed to man the “power of
exercising on his fellows an action analogous to
that of a magnet”

Origin of the phrase “animal magnetism” in relation
to attraction between humans/animals
 “It seems
to be established that a profound
impression had been produced upon the human
mind by the natural magnet and its physical
properties, the existence of two poles, endowed
with opposite properties, and a remote action
without direct contact”(from Animal
Magnetism).
 Since ancient times:

Magnets—thought to contain curative power

Employed as a remedy
 1734—born
in Germany
 Received as a doctor of medicine
by faculty in Vienna
 “He undertook to prove that the sun, moon,
and heavenly bodies act upon living beings by
means of a subtle fluid, which he called animal
magnetism, in order to point out the properties
which it has in common with the magnet”
(from Mesmer’s thesis entitled: The Influence of
the Planets in the Cure of Diseases in 1766)
 In Paris, Mesmer began to spread his theory of
the magnetic fluid.
 1779—Mesmer publishes a paper on
the
discovery of magnetism and “announced to
the world that he had discovered a principle
capable of curing all diseases” (5).



Well-received by the public
“All in the world wished to be magnetized”
“Mesmer carried a long iron wand, with which he
touched the bodies of the patients, and especially
those parts which were diseased; often laying aside
the wand, he magnetized them with his eyes,
fixing his gaze on theirs, or applying his hands
to the hypochondriac region and lower part of the
abdomen (10).

Popular with young women!
 Mesmerism and
the “Will of the
magnetizer”—”will” is supposedly able to
excite or assist the efforts of nature to
produce a medical cure
 Later insinuated to be “dangerous to
morality”

Disrupted the senses—”pleasing and precious
emotions are excited (in which were looked
upon with regret) and since they possess a
natural charm for us, they contribute to our
happiness… But morally they must be
condemned, and they are the more dangerous
as it becomes more easy for them to become
habitual.”
 By
1830s: Mesmerism had a 50-year history of
controversy


Dismissed by Academie de Sciences and Academie
de Medecine , who “branded mesmerism as a
quackery even before it crossed the English Channel
in the 1780s”
Proved to be the result of natural law because it did
not work each time and was not universally effective


Viewed as a “product of ordinary human labor mobilizing
a not-yet-understood force of nature”
Went from being widely accepted to being mocked
 Born
in Ottery St. Mary, in rural Devonshire
 Sent to school in Christ’s Hospital in London
after his father’s death
 He was a “dreamy, enthusiastic, and
extraordinarily precocious schoolboy.”
 Benefitted from excellent education in the
classics due to his upper class-standing
 Had a “turbulent time” at Jesus College,
Cambridge where he enrolled at age 19

Forms ideas of republicanism and type of
Unitarianism promoted by Joseph Priestly
 June
1794—Robert Southey and Coleridge
devised a “radical political scheme called
‘pantisocracy’ (centered on ideas of an all-equal
society)
 October 4th, 1795—Coleridge marries Southey’s
eldest sister, Sara (who he would later divorce
due to their state of being “temperamentally
illsuited.”
 July 1797—Coleridge’s intense association with
Wordsworth
 Coleridge writes “Fears of Solitude” in 1798

Brings together the joint concerns of politics and
morality

Expresses his fear that the British have become “A selfish,
lewd, effeminated race” while suggesting Britain declared
war on not only Revolutionary France but also on “God and
the natural world”
 1798—Coleridge’s
first edition of “The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner” is devised

“first to introduce the marginal glosses which serve as
both a commentary and a counterpoint to the
narrative”
 Most canonical
poems: “The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner,” “Kubla Khan,” and “Christabel”
 During 1797-1798—Coleridge’s opium addiction
worsens, his marriage is failing, and his
“emotional frustration destroys his creativity, then
his friendship with the Wordsworths.”
 Coleridge’s late adulthood was assisted by Dr.
James Gillman and his wife, who took him in as a
house guest in April 1816 until his death in 1834.
 Region of


Unfamiliar, untraveled area
Fear of going into the unknown



dreams = the Arctic
Expressed through ideas of travel in Mariner
 Ex: Ships needing wind to travel
“Land of mist and snow”—”wonderous” to the
Mariner and his men
Overwhelming surroundings of ICE in Part 1:


no “known shapes of men or beasts” appear
Causes the Mariner to be skeptical/fearful of the
unknown
 The
Mariner is unable to connect with anything
but his alienated self when first entering the
Poles:

Allusions to the ice



Unmoving/frozen dead men
Isolation of the ice
Explicit description of the ice
 The



Mariner’s “Polarizing” his thoughts of:
the moon
the sea
Sea serpents

For all of these instances, the Mariner changes his
opinion from negative to positive.
 Overview:

After “inhospitably killing the Albatross,” the
ancient Mariner is cursed by a higher power and is
punished for his actions by the angry spirit of the
land of mist and snow.
 The


Mariner’s Curse:
Forces the Mariner to tell his tale
Gives the Mariner powers of mesmerism/animal
magnetism over the Wedding Guest


“He holds him with his glittering eye” (13).
“The wedding guest stood still/ And listens like a three
years’ child: / The Mariner hath his will” (13-15).
 The wedding
guest “cannot choose but hear”
the Mariner’s tale (38) and is unable to leave
until the tale has finished.

Lines are emphasized in the text through repetition,
which shows the Mariner’s unavailing control over
the Wedding Guest
 “Glittering eye”
of the Mariner—relates to
powers of mesmerism and “will of the
magnetizer”
In the poem, Coleridge suggests a similarity between
the Ancient Mariner and his men by referring to them
all commonly as “mariners” in line 337: “The mariners
all ‘gan work the ropes.”
 How are elements of mesmerism alluded to in the
descriptions of the shipmates and the Mariner
comparable after the men become cursed?
Group 1 = Part 4 and Part 5
 Group 2 = Part 6 and Part 7


Think about elements of Mesmerism:

Specifically allusions to the “eye” and “will” of the mesmerist
 Being
cursed by a higher power [suggested to be
Nature], the Mariner absorbs the powers of the
natural world.


Nature forces the telling and retelling of his tale.
The Mariner MUST tell his woeful tale to anyone he
meets.

“The moment that his face I see, / I know the man that must
hear me” (588-89).
 Mariner knows he has a powerful effect on men/strangers.
 The strangers must listen to the story while the Mariner
must tell the entire story before both can be “set free” (581)
by the powers of nature.
 Look at the varying
depictions of the Sun and
the Moon in the text:


How does the imagery of the Moon allude to
mesmerism and convey a sense of power over the
Mariner?
How is the relationship between the Mariner and
the Moon/Sun conveyed through the imagery and
symbolism of the poem?

Group 1 = Compare Part 3 and Part 4 of the poem

Group 2 = Compare Part 6 and Part 7 of the poem
 At first,
the Mariner looks upon the sea serpents
as being “slimy things” (238).
 The Mariner compares himself to the water
serpents in Part 4: “And a thousand slimy things /
Lived on; and so did I” (238-39).

The Mariner can relate to the creatures and sees
himself as a “slimy thing” for killing the Albatross.
 However,
he is eventually able to see the beauty in
the creatures: “O happy living things! No tongue /
Their beauty might declare” (282-83).

The Mariner “blessed them unaware,” (285 and 287)
and in “the selfsame moment I [the Mariner] could
pray” (288).
 In
Part 7, after the Hermit asks the Mariner what
“manner of man” he is, the Mariner describes
how he is forced to tell his tale:


“Forthwith this frame of mine was wretched / With a
woeful agony, / Which forced me to begin my tale; /
And then it let me free” (578-81).
“Since then, at an uncertain hour, / That agony
returns: / and till my ghastly tale is told, / This heart
within my burns” (582-85).


Ghastly tale; agony of his tale
I pass, like night, from land to land (586)

Mariner indirectly compares himself to the moon and
relates his powers of mesmerism to nature’s power/cursing
of the Mariner.
 “I
have a strange power of speech; / That
moment that his face I see, / I know the man
that must hear me: / To him my tale I teach”
(587-90).
 Moral for the Wedding Guest (influenced by
Anna Letitia Barbauld):


“He prayeth well, who loveth well / Both man and
bird and beast” (612-13).
“He prayeth well, who loveth best / All things both
great and small; / for the dear God who loveth us, /
He made and loveth all” (613-16).
 Once the
Mariner, “whose eye is bright, / Whose
beard with age is hoar, / Is gone,” (618-619) the
Wedding Guest “went like one that hath been
stunned” (622).

Shows the “after-effects” of mesmerism
 After hearing
the Mariner’s tale, the Wedding
Guest is a “sadder and wiser man” (625).


Has he truly benefitted from hearing the Mariner’s
tale?
Will the Wedding Guest retain Nature’s lessons that
the Mariner has forcibly shared with him?

Coleridge leaves us to ponder these questions.