s the sun goes down, the moon comes out, and a description is given of it as well. Warren states that in the moon are the three phases of the redeeming process, which are: “ First, the recognition of happiness and beauty; second, love; third; the blessing of the creatures; fourth, freedom from the spell” (E, 37). As the mariner and his ship make their way home, he spots his home port, which he sees basking in the moonlight. While the theme of sin has been thoroughly covered, the premise of redemption is left open for explanation. Redemption is the act of being pardoned after one has requested forgiveness. This is mostly seen in the bible when Jesus encourages his followers to pray to god for forgiveness, and they would be saved. According to this definition, redemption is exactly what the mariner experienced. He saw the sea snakes, he recognized their beauty, and he blessed them by saying, “Oh happy living things! No tongue their beauty might declare…Sure my kind saint took pity on me, and I blessed them unaware” (A, IV, 282-287) He did not ramble on, nor did he make a scene, he quietly blessed them just as Jesus says to do in the New International Version of the Holy Bible, “But when you pray, go away by yourself, all alone, and shut the door behind you and pray to your father secretly, and your father, who knows your secrets, will reward you” (Mathew 6: 6). The act of blessing the sea snakes was the first step towards the mariner’s redemption. According to Humphry House in “The Ancient Mariner”, “Just as the albatross was not a mere bird, so these are not mere water-snakes – they stand for all happy living things” (B, 63). The first step towards redemption for the mariner was the recovery of love and the recovery of the power of prayer (B, 63). As the mariner blesses the sea snakes, the albatross, which has been hung around his neck, falls off and sinks into...
