Theme Of Romanticism In The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner

Eighteenth and nineteenth century literature, art, and music has a distinctive look as part of the Romantic period. In this period, the society was categorized by living in rural areas, people being very isolated, alone, and the appearance of the supernatural. A Handbook to Literature by Harmon and Holman states that this movement was known for the reaction in literature, philosophy art, religion, and politics. Harmon and Holman continue to say that the key parts to this period were sensibility, primitivism, love of nature; sympathetic interest in the past, especially the medieval, and individualism. These themes can be seen in the romantic literature of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and “Faust” by Goethe, in the characters as they experience isolation, supernatural and magic similar to the …show more content…
Both of these characters were lonely men trying to find happiness in their life, whether it is lost at sea, or lost at heart. This process was helped by a spirit that appeared to them, helping them through their journey to find the end. The Mariner had the spirits of life and death appear by ship to him, and Faust removed the devil’s spirit from a dog he brought home. Both had very unlikely results with the spirits where the characters had to continue to look for their happiness. Eventually, how the two differ was that the Mariner contains many images of being lost at sea, whereas Faust does not. One final similarity that also is a distinction of the romantic period was the emotion the characters portray. The Mariner makes decisions from killing a bird he found as a pesk, to appreciating snakes to find himself, and Faust experienced wide emotion from suicidal, to in love, to despair that his lover died. Through the Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Faust, the key themes of the romantic period can be notes through the characters of each