Goblin Market Essay, Research Paper
Supernatural vs. Symbolism
A detailed comparison
The restrained balance valued in 18th century culture was abandoned in favor of emotional intensity, often taken to extremes of raptures, and nostalgia. The creative imagination occupied the center of Romantic views, which differed from the Victorian emphasis on politics and the orderly, logical and aesthetically consistent implications on daily 18th and 19th century life. Romantics often remain bias on cultural diversity and perception over reason, while Victorians linger around the basis of philanthropy and modernization. Both supernatural and religious aspects surrounding Samuel Taylor Coleridge s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christina Rossetti s Goblin Market tend to show similarities. A comparison between the two would show a significant explanation.
Issues of cultural and spiritual backgrounds invoked by symbolist objects are commonly seen in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Goblin Market.
At length did cross and Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God s name.
Lines 63-66
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The significance of sighting the Albatross represents the first living creature the crew has seen, while stranded in the barren South Pole. When the Mariner shoots the bird, he is faced with judgements passed by his crewmates and natural obstacles that occur for minor periods, punishments passed by god are done mentally through the inability to pray and the death of his crewmates.
I looked to heaven, and tried to pray;
But or ever a prayer had gushed,
A wicked whisper came, and made
my heart as dry as dust.
Lines 244-247
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
This curse provoked by his lack of respect for nature or symbolist of God (since God is nature) is broken as he complements the beauties of a water snake.
The Mariner becomes the wanderer in telling his story. This is a classical reference to “the wandering Jew.” , hence there is no peace for the Mariner as he is condemned to relaying his story to others. The presence of the Mariner on the ship during a sudden storm, seems to allude to a biblical story where Jesus calms the sea. The ghost-ship s appearance in Part 3 (Life and Life in Death), causes anxiety in the Mariner as his agnostic connotation begins to differ into a more spiritual feeling.
The spiritual inconstancies in Goblin Market are lust, and lying. The Goblins representing evil tempt the sister, Laura into indulging their fruits. Her lust for them could not confront her sensibility, she is forced into the Goblins submission and is punished.
The supernatural objects in both poems were based on a foundation of hidden meanings. The introduction of the ghost ship and the fruits gave emotions of anxiety and mysteriousness. The Albatross and the Goblins are supernatural figures of good and evil. In the poems their relevance is merely to represent the story in means of Good vs. Evil. These significance s induces the characters view into following a path of righteousness and prevailing in a positive manner in the end. Supernatural qualities are a way of creating meanings that reach beyond the traditional rule and create a gateways that lead to a surrealistic experiences.
Victorian and Romantic poetry are forms of literature that complement their own meanings or purpose. The other creates it own understanding although sometimes when compared to other poems, two separate belief systems can originate.
Resources:
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel T Coleridge
Goblin Market, Christian Rossetti