"Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Single Truth to Drink"

D-Money 🤑- 6th Period

Final Exam Blog Post

Postmodernism in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Introduction:

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” may wear the mask of a piece of Romantic literature, but the fractured narration, irony, and self-reflective storytelling of the poem reveal its postmodern elements. What was once a straightforward moral story of, punishing nature, and suffering divine justice, has turned into a symbol of our fragmented and media-driven age in which the truth is split.

Element One Fragmentation:

Context-

Fragmentation in postmodern literature shatters the plot lineality and its meaning. Instead of a clear moral meaning, Coleridge’s Mariner drifts through hallucinatory episodes causing him to repeat his tale in a disjointed and almost obsessive manner.

L2 Analysis-

The mariner exclaims how there is “Water, water, every where, / Nor any drop to drink.”. Although surrounded by water, the Mariner's unquenchable thirst is emblematic of the postmodernism element of absurdity. In the Romantic lens, it is seen as punishment for violating the order of nature, but in a postmodern lens, it is extreme irony, being surrounded by an abundance of water but literally dying of thirst. The quote fractures our understanding that symbols are supposed to have moral meaning. Instead, we see a change in our understanding of water itself, going from a giver of life to an agent of doom.

Postmodern Comparison-

Jonathan Haidt’s “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid” mentions how “We are surrounded by more information than ever, yet starved for shared meaning”. Literally the same situation as the mariner. Crazy isn't it? Haidt mentions how social media’s vast array of content mimics the sea in how vast it is, leaving us thirsting for any kind of real connection, just like the mariner.

My Take-

What is appealing to me about this kind of fragmentation is that it mirrors how our brains process stuff, especially during times of stress or chaos. The moment in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" when the mariner is surrounded by what seems like endless amounts of water, but simultaneously dying of thirst feels like it's a glitch in the matrix. It's both frustrating and confusing much like what we see online or in the news. Similarly in Haidt’s “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid” he talks about how everyone is kinda just shouting into the void without any response, making you feel isolated and lonely. This fragmentation makes you feel the disconnect rather than just understanding it.

Element Two Metafiction:

Context-

Metafiction is basically when a story knows it's a story, it calls itself out, almost like breaking the fourth wall. In "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", this happens when the mariner reflects on the albatross falling off his neck.

L2 Analysis-

When “The Albatross / Fell off, and sank / Like lead into the sea.” Coleridge uses it as a big dramatic metaphor, making you realize the true meaning of the albatross. This makes the poem feel more like a constructed story rather than a deep universal truth, which is exactly what meta-fiction is. The albatross’s fall traditionally symbolizes forgiveness but becomes a mundane image reminding the reader that symbols only have meaning through a narrative lens.

Postmodern Comparison-

You can also see this in Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Making a Fist”. The speaker talks about how “Years later I smile to think of that journey…” effectively breaking the fourth wall by reminding us this is just a memory she’s retelling. Nye is fully aware that shaping the story like this affects the viewer in a way that makes them question what is real and what is not, as well as what is current and what is past. Just like the mariner, Nye isn't just telling a story she is also thinking about how the story is being told. Both stories become self-aware, showing how their meaning is made, not just discovered.

My Take-

Something that stands out to me about this kind of storytelling is how it doesn't directly teach you lessons and spoon-feed you morals. It forces you to think through it yourself which can cause different people to find differing meanings in each story. The moment the albatross sinks in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", you don't just think yay he's free from the curse. Its vagueness leaves you wondering what it actually means. Similarly in Nye's poem, you realize it's not just about a literal moment, it's about how she chooses to remember it. It made me think about how stories aren't the absolute truth, yes they influence what we believe, but it's up to us to interpret their meaning and learn a lesson from that.

Element Three Relativism:

Context-

Relativism in postmodern literature suggests that there is no single, universal truth and only individual truths based on personal experience, biases, or perception. Instead of firm moral lessons, stories are shaped by the reader, causing the lesson to become flexible or even meaningless.

L2 Analysis-

In "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", after all the horror the mariner faces, the spirits claim, “The man hath penance done, / And penance more will do.” You’d think that the mariner would finally be free after all he's suffered, but this line is very vague and never gives the reader a clear answer to, how much is enough? The idea of penance changes from divine judgment in Romanticism, to the idea that morality isn't set in stone in postmodernism. It all depends on who is telling the story and when.

Postmodern Comparison-

The song “Humility” by Gorillaz has an ironic lightness to it. The smooth melodies mask a deeper message about isolation and inner conflict. When 2-D calls “the world from isolation,” there is a sense of someone searching for meaning in a noisy and fragmented world. Just like the mariner, he seems stuck in a loop of doing what he needs to do, but never achieving what he wants. The bright visuals clash with the underlying loneliness of the lyrics. Both “Humility” and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" suggest a type of spiritual and mental limbo, where humility or forgiveness never fully arrives because the requirements for it keep changing.

My Take-

I think what resonates most with me about relativism is how it mirrors our world right now. There’s no one version of right or wrong anymore, everything is filtered through people's own perspective. For example in “Humility”, you get the image of someone skating through the world, trying to stay grounded, but is clearly drifting through life. It's very similar to the mariner. Even when he “learns his lesson”, the requirements shift, and he is back at square one. It makes me think about how stories aren't about just reaching one big truth, they're about realizing how unstable and changing the truth can be depending on who you are, where you are, and what you believe.

Conclusion:

Coleridge’s "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" may have been written in the Romantic era, but when viewed through a postmodern lens, it becomes an entirely different story about not just one moral truth, but the impossibility of holding onto any kind of fixed meaning at all. Fragmentation, metafiction, and relativism twist the tale into a mirror of our current world, showing the chaos, irony, and self-awareness causing us to be deeply unsure of what is real. Whether it's the mariner dying of thirst being told what he's done isn't enough, Gorillaz's “Humility” or Jonathan Haidt’s observations on digital life, were left with unanswered questions. And maybe that's the point. They don't tell us what to think but rather make us feel the confusion, the isolation, and maybe even the beauty in that uncertainty.