This description is very symbolic, for it means that the Mariner and his crew mates are all doomed to roam the seas as dead men because of the Mariner's killing of the albatross.
Although Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is superbly written, there are parts that could use some development. Some would say that any attempt to change or alter this poem goes against all the principles of literary license, yet it is clear that Coleridge left plenty of room for perhaps additional characters and situations. For example, as previously mentioned, in Part IV, Coleridge mentions "a saint" which could be developed into St. Elmo, best known for his "St. Elmo's fire" which sometimes appears at sea on the masts and riggings of ships during a storm, or even St. Brendan the navigator, both of which are the patron saints of sailors.
Also in Part IV, Coleridge mentions "slimy creatures" which could be developed into some type of sea serpent or monster, such as a giant octopus or some type of mythological creature. Since sea-going sailors have reported seeing unidentified "sea monsters" for many hundreds of years, the Mariner too could have encountered some strange "slimy thing" in this part of the poem.
In addition, in Part IV, the Mariner glances "Beyond the shadow of the ship" and sees.".. The...
moved in tracks of shining white/and when they reared, the elfish light/Fell off in hoary flakes" (lines 49-53). This description at first appears to be a contradiction in terms of snakes being in the water, but in reality, the snakes could be developed as deep water serpents that rise to the surface to breath the air amid the whiteness of the waves. Exactly where these "water snakes" originate from is not made clear in the poem, but they could be creatures from the depths of the sea thousands of feet below, much closer to Hell than to Heaven. When the Mariner sees these snakes, he cries out "O happy living things!... (line 59) which shows that he is overjoyed to see living things in his desolate world, but the snakes may be a symbol for his wanderings, for they too slither through the oceans without direction or cause.
Due to Coleridge's masterful use of poetical metaphor and symbolism, the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" has withstand the test of time and is still widely read and studied despite the passage of almost two hundred years. As one of the greatest poets of his generation, Samuel Taylor Coleridge was obviously haunted himself, at least psychologically, by many strange and mysterious thoughts and ideas, yet the characters and the settings in the poem serve the reader quite well.
