The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a poem about a lone sailor who survives a disastrous sea voyage. By holding himself responsible for this tragedy, he condemns himself to tell his story to strangers. The most common interpretation of this poem is the religious view of crime and punishment. At the beginning of the poem the sailor shoots an albatross as a symbol of good luck. Since it is a moral mistake to shoot the albatross, since you are supposed to love "all things, both great and small," the crew was ultimately punished. The sailor's punishment was to live a "life in death" by repenting and telling his story. His shipmates were punished with death for their crime of praising the death of the Albatross. The Albatross is also supposed to represent Jesus and the crucifixion of Jesus when hanging around the sailor's neck. While one cannot deny the religious symbolism, I argue that the moral: loving all things great and small is not Coleridge's true message. Coleridge was known to suffer from various mental disorders such as depression. His own depression is reflected in his writing, particularly in his character, the ancient mariner. Coleridge is also a storyteller like the Sailor. Both tell their own stories and we must separate Coleridge's story from that of the Mariner. However, first we must try to make sense of the explicitly stated moral: He who loves best all things great and small prays best; who loves us, created and loves everyone. (lines 614-617) What the sailor learns from all his ordeal is that we should love all of God's creatures. He tries to spread this message, but the “crime” does not equal the punishment. The death of an albatross is not... middle of paper... very sad. This is because the wedding guest sees what guilt can do to a man. We, as readers, are the guests at Coleridge's wedding. Coleridge writes a story within a story and makes us believe that the Mariner's story is Coleridge's. However, by separating both stories from each narrator we see that Coleridge's story is about forgiving oneself of guilt. The sailor was unable to do this from his youth and, therefore, suffered for the rest of his life. Works Cited Coleridge, Samuel. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." The Broadview anthology of British literature The Age of Romanticism. Ed. Joseph Black ... [et al.]. 2nd ed. Buffalo: Broadview Press, 2012. 415-424. Print.White, Harry. "Coleridge's Uncertain Agony." Studies in English literature 1500-1900.Vol. 49, no. 4, The Nineteenth Century (2009): 807-39. JSTOR. Network. 06 April. 2014.