Under the inspiration of Wordsworth, Coleridge managed to produce some of his best poetry. Wordsworth brought out the best in Coleridge, and Coleridge, in turn, did the same for Wordsworth. In 1798, the two collaborated on the poetic masterpiece, Lyrical Ballads. It is this compilation of poetry that ushered in the Romantic period (Magill 623). One of the most highly proclaimed works of Lyrical Ballads was Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner.".
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is a wild, mystical, and picturesque narrative that in many ways is a splendid dream (Moulton 218). Coleridge tells a story of an old seaman who is forced to randomly tell his tale of brutal suffering to people he meets in town. In this case, the mariner stops a man on his way to a wedding to tell his chilling story. The wedding guest is so entranced by the story, that he completely misses the wedding that he was to attend. The mariner tells the man of how he and his crew were roughing through a storm when, suddenly, a seagull appeared and led them to safety beyond the storms reaches. The bird was seen as sign of good fortune. One day, however, the mariner shot the bird with his crossbow. Although he did this without thinking, he still suffered much ill fate as his punishment. All his crew members died and he was stranded with no food or water, and no wind to push him to shore. When he looks down and appreciates the beauty of the lowly sea snake, the curse is broken and he is rescued. This tale is mainly a story of crime and punishment, the mariner shoots the bird and suffers many pains. The greatest of these pains are loneliness and spiritual anguish (Boulger 22). The mariner makes the mistake of killing the "bird of good omen," this act is seen as murder and brings many evils to act upon him (27). This was Wordsworth's main criticism of the poem, that the mariner does not act, but is constantly acted upon and pursued by a dark and sinister fate.