MARINER
Ali Smith, Hannah Raezer, Andrea Zimmerman
Our Interpretation
It was dark outside, and the water was nice and calm, peaceful. The moon was shining on the water.
It’s quiet, too quiet. Something is up. All of a sudden, there was a bright light across the bay.
Ghosts were coming out of the dead bodies and hovering over them.
They all waved at me.
They continued to wave at me, but they didn’t speak.
I think there is a boat coming.
Thank the Lord! I am so happy.
They will save me!
The good hermit and his boat are wonderful and coming for me. It’s so good to hear that boat that will save my life. It is magnificent.
“Dude this is weird, I swear! What happened to all of the odd lights over here?"
“Yeah, this is weird,” said the hermit.
The pilot replied, “They didn't answer when we said we were coming. This ship looks like it’s done for as well as those upon it.”
“Man, this place gives me the creeps.”
“Yeah I’m so scared that I just peed my pants a little bit; let's get outta here. Word to your mother,” said the hermit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE
I didn't move or speak, but I could hear the ship coming. Soon, there was a deafening noise, and the ship was going under faster than the titanic.
A Picture Interpretation
The Shmoop Interpretation
- The Mariner ends up back at the port he left from so, so long ago. He sees the lighthouse, hill, and church come back into view.
- It's a beautiful sight, and naturally, the Mariner is overjoyed.
- The moonlight shines across the bay, but another set of lights soon appears. He sees shapes in "crimson" or red colors. These turn out to be angels ("seraphs"). All the dead men who came back to life to sail the ship go back to being dead, and the angels are standing beside their bodies.
- These must be the angels that took over the sailors' bodies. They wave at the Mariner as if to say, "Our work is done. We're gonna peace out."
- They don't speak to the Mariner, but he feels delighted anyway.
- The Mariner hears a boat coming toward the ship. A "pilot" or oarsman and his young crewmate are coming to rescue him.
- There's another man on the boat, too: the nice old "hermit." A hermit is someone, often very religious, who lives his or her life in solitude. This particular hermit lives in the forest.
- The Mariner looks forward to the hermit clearing away his sins by asking him questions, by "shrieving" his soul, like a confession.
- The hermit lives by himself in the woods near the ocean, and he likes to gab it up with sailors who have just come back from long trips. He's very religious and can be seen frequently kneeling down to pray on the lush moss in his forest.
- The Mariner hears voices from the rescue boat. It's probably the pilot. The pilot wants to know what all those crazy red lights were. He thinks they were a rescue signal.
- The hermit agrees that the lights were weird, and he notices that the ship and its sails look dry, like tattered, fallen leaves. We can see that the hermit is going to compare everything to the forest.
- The pilot becomes afraid, but the hermit isn't too concerned.