Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," has been widely criticized, discussed and interpreted ever since it was written in 1797. Although there have been many different views, and interpretations of this poem, there has been one idea that has remained the same throughout. That is the religious symbolism seen throughout this poem. The main character of the poem, The Ancient Mariner, has much natural and biblical symbolism; a long with people he meets, and place he goes to during his journey. These are the most important roles of the poem. Critics have many views of this poem, “The story of the voyage in itself might lead us to despair, but framing narrative; involving the wedding guest, at least suggests a possible hope”(Punter), this is a view that many agree upon. The message of this ballad form poem that Coleridge was trying to get across, is through all the evil, good can still shine through. This thought of good and evil, symbolic religious events, and natural life are the points that Coleridge made relevant in his brilliant poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”
The first symbolism towards religion in this poem is the ship. “Coleridge’s originality as an artist is most obvious in the use of

Another location in the poem, which is symbolic to a place in the Bible, is England. Throughout the story it symbolizes Heaven, and sanctuary for the Mariner. When the Mariner first sees England, a great sense of hope and joy overcomes him. After the long horrific journey, as the Mariner is about to enter “heaven”, his body (the ship) must die so as the soul (the Mariner) can enter heaven, so the ship must be departed from, and sink to the bottom of the ocean, much as a person is committed to the ground. A man and his son see the ship sinking and they go out to retrieve the Mariner, much as angles carry the soul into Heaven as it is said in the Bible.

2. Holding-Waldorf. The Ancient Mariner: Modern Literary Criticism. www.arts.valberta.ca/~dmail/mariner/stccrit1.htm