Connotative meaning in samuel taylor coleridge's poem the rime of the ancient mariner = nghĩa biểu cảm trong bài thơ the rime of the ancient mariner của tác giả samuel taylor coleridge

Luận văn, khóa luận, đề tài

Vinh university

department of foreign language

-NguyÔn ThÞ HËu

Connotative meaning in samuel taylor coleridge's

poem: The Rime Of the Ancient Mariner

(NghÜa biÓu c¶m trong bµi th¬ The rime of the ancient mariner cña t¸c

gi¶ Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Graduation thesisField: Literature

Vinh, May-2007

Vinh university

department of foreign language

-Connotative meaning in samuel taylor coleridge's

poem: The Rime Of the Ancient Mariner

(NghÜa biÓu c¶m trong bµi th¬ The rime of the ancient mariner cña t¸c

gi¶ Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Graduation thesisField: Literature

Student: NguyÔn ThÞ HËuClass: 44B2 EnglishSupervisor: Phan V©n H¬ng

Vinh, May-2007

Acknowledgements

Language Department that awarded me the opportunity to do this thesis

Phan V©n H¬ng-my supervisor who helped me and supported meenthusiastically during my writing

comprehensive lessons on English literature and his valuable suggestionsconcerning my study

I would like to express my indebtedness to all the teachers of ForeignLanguage Department for giving me useful lessons during the time I studyhere

and encouragement during the process of writing this thesis

Vinh, May-2007

NguyÔn thÞ hËu

Table of contents

Pages

Acknowledgements

Table of contents

Part a introduction

1 Rationale

2 Aims of the study

3 Scope of the study

4 Methods of the study

5 Design of the study

Part b Contents

Chapter I Theoretical Background

1.1 Word and meaning

1.1.1 Definitions of word

1.1.2 Definitions of meaning

1.2 Word meaning

1.2.1 Lexical and grammartical meaning

1.2.2 Denotation and Connotation

Chapter II English Literature in 19th century

2.1 Historical background

2.1.1 The American Revolution

2.1.2 The French Revolution

2.1.3 The "Holy Alliance"

2.1.4 Industrial Revolution

2.2 Features of English literature in 19th century

2.2.1 Meanings of "Romanticism"

2.2.2 Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poetry

Chapter III Connotative meaning in Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

3.1 A brief introduction to the poem

3.3 Connotative meaning in the poem

3.3.1 Connotative meaning of natural symbols

3.3.2 Connotative meaning of religious symbols

Part C Conclusion

1 Summary of the study

2 Suggessions for further studies

References

Appendix

Part a: Introduction

1 Rationale

As we know, English is used the most widely over the world As aresult, many students seek more chances to access this internationallanguage For the purpose of communication, the English vocabulary isalways one of the main concerns of learners as it is considered the firstcondition to understand other aspects of English language The Englishlanguage has a huge store of words that presents in many forms both inwritten and also spoken ones, for example: books, newspapers,magazines or daily conversation

words such as: Arnold, Lyrons, Palmer and some Vietnamese authors as

words and word meaning such as definitions, word formation, denotationand connotation However, English words and their meanings in literatureare not easy to analyze and understand at all

mainly focus on the English grammar or the theory related to the Englishwords without paying attention to how words are used and their meaningsare conveyed Therefore, the chance for a profound comprehension of apoem is limited and Vietnamese students encounter many difficulties infully understanding a literary work What is more, while studying literature,

I was attracted by the poem The rime of the ancient mariner written in the

19th century by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

For all the above-mentioned reasons, we find it useful to applytheoretical issues about the English word to interpret a specific literary

work Thus, we decide to carry out the study entitled: "Connotative

meaning in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" I hope the study can partly help students of English understand

more about the content of the poem, especially the non-literal meanings ofwords used in the poem The poem has seven parts but due to the smallscale of the study, we only deal with some typical examples of connotativemeaning of words emerging in some parts of the poem

2 Aims of the study

The study aims to:

- To study the features of English literature in the 19th century

- To give an example of how theoretical knowledge of words can beuseful to the study of English

- To show how words are used in The rime of the ancient mariner

with their non-literal meanings so as to achieve a better understanding ofthe poem

- To raise an awareness of the importance of non-literal meaning ofwords used in communication

3 Scope of the study

It is impossible to study connotative meaning of all the words used inthe poem Within the scope of a graduation paper, we focus only onconnotative meaning of words denoting certain natural and religioussymbols emerging in the poem

4 Methods of the study

- Consulting my supervisor and teachers for instructions and advices

- Searching and studying reference documents related to thegraduation thesis to set up a theoretical backgound for the study

- Studying historical background of the poem and discussing effects

of major historical events on the poem

- Studying the poem to identify symbols and images to be analysed inthe study

- Consulting and choose good ideas that are useful for the study

- Using analytic method to describe and explain the use of symbolsand images in the poem

- Qualitative method is employed to analyze connotative meaning ofwords denoting certain symbols and images emerging in the poem

5 Design of the study

Part A: Introduction

1 Rationale

2 Aims of the study

3 Scope of the study

4 Methods of the study

5 Design of the study

Part B: Contents

Chapter I: Theoretical Background

Chapter II: English literature in the 19th century

Chapter III: Connotative meaning in Coleridge's The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner

Part C: Conclusion

1 Summary of the study

2 Suggessions for further studies

References

Appendix

Part b: contents Chapter I: Theoretical background

1.1 Word and Meaning

1.1.1 Definitions of word

Word is a familiar term in linguistics However, it is not easy at all todefine exactly what a word is There are many different definitions of wordproposed by famous linguists

The word is one of the basic units of language consisting of bothform and content According to Arnold (1986: 28), the word is considered

to be "composed of one or more morphemes, each consisting of one or

more spoken sounds or their written representations" He gives further

explanation that morphemes are meaningful units combining within words.Different from words that can be used as a complete utterance, these parts

of words can not be used independently Following the definition, a new

word is formed when an affix is added For example, play and player are

two different words The element "-er" is a meaningful unit but can not beused in isolation whereas the word player can be

As Bloomfield (1933: 178, quoted in Jackson and Amveia), a word is

a "minimal free form" The word has meaning and can occur in isolation.

However, the word is not divided into smaller elements which can occuralone and also have meaning According to Bloomfield, there are two forms

of words: free and bound forms For example, the words table and people stay alone so they are free whereas the words teacher and running are

bound form

In the grammatical approach, the word is defined in terms of two

criteria "positional mobility" and "uninterruptability" (Arnold, 1986: 29).

By "positional mobility" is meant that the order of words in the sentence

may be changed For example, in the following sentence:

She said every thing naturally

There are several ways of reordering the words without removing ordisrupting any morphemes:

Naturally she said every thing

Or: She said naturally every thing

The criterion "uninterruptability" refers to the stability of the component

morphemes within words It is explained that the order of the smallerelements remains consistent and no element can be added For example, the

word impossibility has three morphemes "im-; possible; -ity" with a rigid combination Thus, these elements can not be reordered into "possibilityim"

or "imbilytypossible" Lyons (1969: 203, quoted in Arnold, 1986: 29) summarizes that "one of the characteristics of the word is that it tends to be

internally stable (in terms of the order of the component morphemes) but possitionally mobile (permutable with other words in the same sentence)"

In the semantic point of view, Stephen Ullmann (1957: 30) states that

words "will fall into a certain number of meaningful segments which are

ultimately composed of meaningful units" (quoted in Arnold, 1986: 29)

in Hoµng TÊt Trêng, 1993:11), 'a word is marked if not by "spaces" or

"pauses", at least by some features of the sound system of the language'.

According to the definition, a word is, in writing, often regarded as an itembounded by spaces However, the definition is not easy enough to realizewhat the word is For example, in some cases, especially rapidly spokenEnglish, we often meet difficulties in realizing word because we sometimescan hardly find stress and juncture Hoµng TÊt Trêng (1993, p.11) gives an

example: We might say "watcha gone do" for what in writing would appear

"what are you going to do?" A question is that "watcha" is one or three words and "gone" is one or two?

For Hoµng TÊt Trêng (1993:11), a word is a dialectical unity of formand content, independent unit of language to form a sentence by itself.Similarly, NguyÔn Hoµ (2004: 67) states that words are regarded assmallest indivisible meaningful units of a language which can operateindependently Sentences are made up of words and the meaning of asentence is the combination of meaning of words

1.1.2 Definitions of meaning

When discussing the word, it is unavoidable to talk about meaning.Therefore the question "What is meaning?" is put forward As we havediscussed above, the word is the fundamental unit of language and a word

is a dialectical unity of form and content According to Arnold (1986: 30),the form is the expression in spoken or written form which can create aspecific meaning and the content is what the speaker wants to convey to hislisteners Arnold (1986: 38) adds that the content in speech reflects therelationship between language and thought, word and thought and betweenlanguage and society in which human consciousness is one of the mostimportant points It comprises not only mental activities but emotions,volition, etc as well

According to F de Saussure (Arnold, 1986: 38), meaning is considered to

be the relation between the object or notion named and the name itself

whereas Bloomfield defines the meaning as "the situation in which the

Firstly, meaning is essentially subjective It is explained that when

speaking a word, the speaker knows clearly what he wants to convey or thecontent he intends to express to his listeners

Secondly, much communication is actually miscommunication It

can be understood that in a conversation, the speakers and hearers oftendiscuss and give their ideas about the topic they are talking and then come

to an "approximate consensus on the notions associated with their words" Delahunty and Garvey assume that "the meaning of a word is the image it

prompts in the minds of its users".

Thirdly, meaning is a single phenomenon This view assumes that

there are many different types of communication in the society It isillustrated from two points: First, not only words but sentences havemeaning; Second, meaning can be expressed directly (literally) andindirectly (nonliterally) exemplified in these situations:

My bicycle is broken down (1)

This sentence states an affair that the bicycle is broken down We canunderstand the meaning of word bicycle and broken down and therelationship between them

Teacher: You are late

Student: My bicycle is broken down (2)

In this situation, the meaning of the sentence "My bicycle is broken down"

is above its literal meaning This sentence can be understood as a thestudent's explaination and excuse for his being late

In general, ideas around the definitions of meaning are expressed invarious way One of the most general opinions is Jakobson's pun (quoted in

Arnold, 1986: 38): "linguistics without meaning is meaningless".

1.2 Word Meaning

In the previous parts we have mentioned definitions of the word.The word has both form and content When dealing with words, we canfocus either on the form or on the meaning

Arnold (1986: 38) described four most types of complexity of theword meaning:

Firstly, every word combines lexical and grammatical meaning For

example, words such as friend, relatives, father have individual lexicalmeaning and grammatical meaning realized as to be parts of speech ofNouns

Secondly, many words not only have denotational but connotational

meaning expressing the attitude of the speaker For example, words such asdad, father

Thirdly, "the denotational meaning is segmented into semantic

components or semes" For example, father is a male parent.

Fourthly, a word may be polysemantic, it may have several

meanings, all interconnected and forming its semantic structure Forexample, father may mean male parent, an ancestor, a founder or leader, apriest

The complexity of the word meaning is manifold In this study, weonly deal with in more details the first and the second ones in the nextparts

1.2.1 Lexical and grammatical meaning

There are two kinds of word meaning: grammatical meaning andlexical meaning

"Lexical meaning is the realization of concept or emotion" (Hoµng

TÊt Trêng, 1993: 53) Realization means the image of what is mentioned to.For example, for the first time we hear or see the word field, we think of apicture of image of a large field with many kinds of plants In this case, ourconcept is realized and therefore the lexical meaning of word field is therealization of our concept

meanings" (Hoµng TÊt Trêng, 1993: 53) In a set of different words with

their own lexical meanings, the words share a common grammaticalfeature, such as parts of speech or tense of sentences

different grammatical form of one word

Ex: tall - taller - tallest (1)

Or do - did - done - does (2)

These words do not change their lexical meaning despite different forms ofgrammar In (1), they are the inflectional forms of the adjective - the baseform, comparative form, superlative form In (2), they are the inflectionalforms of the verb - the base form, past tense form, present participle form,third person singular present tense form

There are cases in which the same grammatical meaning may beshared by different words.

Ex: education, graduation, advertisement

Or student, professor, teacher

These words have the same grammatical form (all of them are Nouns) buttheir lexical meanings are different

Based on the grammatical and lexical meaning of a word, Hoµng TÊt

functional words He states the words denoting objects, actions orqualities are called notional words whose lexical meaning is clear For

example, the nouns as table, picture; the verbs as to play, to go; the adjectives as beautiful, good And the words whose "prevailing meaning"

is grammatical are called functional words They are particles, articles,

prepositions For example, the, a, an, behind.

grammar and vocabulary are complementary A grammatical structure is arule in which lexical items are put together to form phrases, clauses andsentences Once the rule is broken, the sentences will be ungrammatical Ex: Yesterday, he not goes to school

the vocabulary does not follow right order, the sentences will becomemeaningless

Ex: Grass eats buffaloes

This shows that the grammaticality is closely related to meaningfulness To

an extent, the lexis is very essential to form a meaningful sentence

want to express The words (or phrases) need to be put together in a certain

rule of grammatical structures NguyÔn Hßa (2004) states that "the

grammar reflects the way in which the lexicon operates as means of communication and as an instrument of thought" (p.55).

In short, a sentence is correct if it is put in a correct grammaticalstructure and the vocabulary makes it meaningful The relationship betweenthe grammar and vocabulary is presented in a sentence

The lexical meaning of a word depends on the part of speech towhich the word belongs There is often the combination between words inthe sentence and every word that operates its function The word

combination "form larger units expressing various relationships and

constitute the linguistic context in which a specific word operates" (Jackson

and Amveia, 2000: 57) Words are arranged in certain patterns conveyingthe relations between the things for which they stand; therefore each wordhas both lexical and grammatical meaning For example, head of thecompany (1)

Head in (1) is a noun and means the leader; head in (2) is a verb and means

to control

Any language has a great number of words The words and their

lexical meanings have a much "lower probability of occurrence" than grammatical meanings and that explains why they "carry the great amount

of information and contribute to the content of the sentence".

Arnold (1986) states "all grammatical meanings have a lexical

counterpart that expresses the same concept" For instance, the concept of

futurity may be lexically expressed in the words future, tomorrow, by and

by, time to come or grammatically, in the verbal forms shall come and will come He adds that the grammatical meaning is more abstract and more

generalized than the lexical meaning because words belong to differentgroups, classes and parts of speech and each of word has individualmeanings

In summary, each word combines both the grammatical and lexicalmeaning In this study, we only focus on the latter

There are two types of lexical meaning: Direct meaning and

Indirect meaning

Direct meaning or literal meaning does not involve a context Itmeans we do not need a context to understand the direct meaning of wordwhich directly denotes something that it intends to refer to withoutcomparing it or associating with other things

Indirect meaning or "figurative or transferred meaning" (Hoµng TÊt

Trêng, 1993: 57) In contrast to direct meaning, this type of lexical meaninginvolves a context and we have to compare the thing or associate it with

others to understand For example, the word "head" denotes the part of the body when it stands alone, but when it is put in the sentence: "He is the

head of my company", its meaning is the "leader" Besides, the word head

also has many other indirect meanings, such as: "person, beginning".

To understand the indirect meaning of the word, we have to think of values and evaluative implication behind the literal meaning as well as the emotional content Direct and indirect meaning are also termed denotation and connotation These will be discussed in more details in the next part.

1.2.2 Denotation and connotation

Denotation and connotation are two terms related to the identification

of lexical meaning of a word In this part, we will discuss each of them inturn

1.2.2.1 Denotative meaning

Denotative meaning is the meaning that a word acquires based onwhat it refers to, such as: things, concepts In other words, denotative

meaning expresses the conceptual content "To denote is to serve as a

linguistic expression for a concept or as a name for an individual object".

(Arnold, 1986: 40) For example, dog denotes an animal having four legs that lives in house, boy denotes a young person who is a male, rain and

shine denote natural phenomena.

According to Hoµng TÊt Trêng (1993: 54), the denotation consists ofsignificative denotation and demonstrative denotation He states that whenthe thing a word denotes is a concept, an abstract thing, we havesignificative denotation and when it is an individual object we havedemonstrative denotation He explains in greater details that the denotative

meaning "conceptualizes and classifies our experience and names for the

listeners some objects spoken about" In his opinion, it is denotative

meaning that may be regarded as the central factor in the functioning oflanguage because every word presents the significative and thecommunicative function

Denotative meaning is invariable and that is the strict dictionarymeaning of a word It involves in a broader consensus among people of thesame culture and different cultures Denotation is the ability of a word toidentify a wide range of things which share certain characteristic features

For example, the word house is understood by all people in all societies as a

living accommodation This concept is the consensus or the agreement ofthe word meaning in terms of denotation

There is a close association between denotation and synonyms.Jackson and Amveia (2000: 57) point out that synonyms may have thesame denotation, i.e cognitive or conceptual meaning but differ in

connotation For example, to read-to skim-to scan are synonyms Their

denotation is an action of reading but their connotation is not the same: -to skim: reading slightly

-to scan: reading carefully

Thus, many synonyms differ greatly due to their "favourable and

unfavourable connotation" (Hoµng TÊt Trêng,1993: 55)

1.2.2.2 Connotative meaning

Connotative meaning is the meaning a word acquires based onwhere, when, how and by whom, for what purpose and in what context it is

or may be used (Arnold, 1986: 48) It shows us how things, concepts are

denoted While the denotation is the "straightforward, neutral relation

between a word and its referent, the connotation brings in association that

a word may have for a speaker or a community" (Jackson, 2002: 16).

Connotation is the communicative value that an expression hasbased on what it refers to It does not only mention to the purely conceptualbut also conveys the speaker's attitude, emotion and so on Unlike thedenotation, connotation has expressive function of the language that reflectsspeakers' attitude or feelings Connotation is the evaluative implicationsbehind, over and above the literal meaning

Ex: the word rebuild: denotation: build another

connotation: thing is old

Or the word excuse: denotation: explanation

connotation: weak reason

Sometimes, two or more words have the same denotation but differentconnotations

Ex: the word house: place to live (living accommodation),

material

the word home: more spiritual

In the dictionary, both of these words are defined as a place to live.However, the word home has an additional meaning Besides the strictdictionary meaning or denotation, the word home makes people associate

the thing named home with comfort, love, security or privacy People do

not have the same association with the word house The various feelings,

images, and memories that surround a word make up its connotation

Different from the denotation, the connotation is variable It meansthe connotation is more open to interpretation Connotations varyconsiderably according to cultures, historical periods and personal

experience The term "connotation" is used to refer to the socio-cultural

and "personal" association It occurs much in aspects of advertising, politics

the advertisers often use the word inexpensive instead of cheap because of its connotation The word cheap seems to have one connotation of poor

of the object spoken of (clique vs group), about the speaker's emotions(mummy vs mother) or the degree of intensity (adore vs love) (p.40)

Arnold also gives an idea for existence of emotional and evaluative

element of the word in denotational meaning Take the word hireling as an

example, the literal meaning of this word is a person who is hired to work

for somebody (English-English-Vietnamese Dictionary) But it also contains "a strong derogatory and even scornful connotation", especially

when the name is applied to hired soldiers

There are 4 types of connotation simplified in Arnold (1986: 48)

- Stylistic connotation is related to the situation in which the word isused: the social circumstance (formal, familiar ); the social relationshipsbetween the listeners and speakers (polite, rough); the type and purpose ofcommunication (learned, poetic, official )

- Emotional or affective connotation means the referent denoted indenotative meaning is associated with emotions

anxiety (He besought a favour of the judge) (Longman)

-Evaluative connotation expresses attitudes and approval ordisapproval

Ex: That's an incorrect conclusion

Or you were wrong to go now

This type of connotation is strongly dependent upon the functional style It

is almost absent in learned literature and often occurs in colloquial speechand newspaper

-Intensifying connotation expressive and emphatic values

Ex: It is extremely cold today

information is implied behind the literal meaning of the word "It remains a

potential, a possibility until it is realized in secondary nomination in some figurative meaning or in a derivative" (Arnold, 1986: 50)

determining the word meaning in a given context Different from the

denotation, the connotation is optional and it has some "additional property

of lexemes, e.g.: poetic, slang, biblical, casual, colloquial, formal, humorous, literary, rhetorical " (Jackson and Amveia, 2000: 58) Thus,

connotation can be regarded as an additional meaning to denotation In thechapter III we will analyse in more details denotative and connotative

meaning of some words in the poem The rime of the ancient mariner.

To sum up the meaning of the words, a chart is drawn as follows inHoµng TÊt Trêng (1993: 55)

Word meaning

Grammatical meaning lexical meaning

Denotation connotation

Emotion evaluation intensity stylistic colouring

Chapter ii English literature in the 19th century

2.1 Historical Background

In the 19th century, many important events that have great influences

on the national development took place in England There are three greatrevolutions among them: The American revolution, The French revolutionand the industrial revolution and the establishment of the "Holy Alliance".They not only offered changes for social-political life but also for literature

2.1.1 The American Revolution (1775-1783)

In English literature (1995), the writer show the direct cause for the

American Revolution was the development of capitalism in addition to thegrowth of national consciousness in North America The capitalistdevelopment in England in last decades of the 18th century had led to manychanges in both economic and political life of society The life of peoplebecame harder and harder They had to suffer from oppression andexploitation It was hard and poor condition of living that motivated NorthAmerican's consciousness At the same time the North Americanbourgeoisie realized clearly that it was unbearable and a revolution wasneeded In May 1775, the Second Continental Congress of the 13th English

colonies came to a basic decision: "the irresistible demand for national

independence".

A heroic people's war against Great Britain of the colonial army tookplace and won under the leadership of George Washington met the demandfor national independence As a result, the new United States Governmentwas set up on September 3rd, 1783 when Great Britain reluctantly signed

the peace treaty which recognized the independence of the United States ofAmerica.

The success of the American Revolution had a great influence notonly on the political life in England but also had a great significance forinternational consciousness about national independence The AmericanRevolution helped people of countries be aware of fighting for freedom.The words of the Declaration of Independence made most of people in

many other countries acknowledge the truth that "all men are created

equal, that they are endowed inalienable right that among these are life, liberty of the pursuit of happiness".

The American Revolution was really thought of as the firstfoundation for the other revolutions later It became the symbol of nationalconsciousness that encouraged the will of fighting for freedom of people inmany countries in the world

2.1.2 The French Revolution

According to the author of English literature, more than a decadeafter the bourgeois revolution in North America, the bourgeois revolution inFrance broke out It was an inevitable outcome of difficulties in botheconomy and politics after the century-long wars with England Incomparison with the English bourgeois revolution, the French bourgeoisrevolution lasted for a longer time In France, there was no compromise orany agreement between the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie as in Americawith the treaty of peace The peasants and the town poor were those whoalways had to suffer most Thus, they were full of hatred for the French

aristocracy and so determined to break with "the rotten system of monarchy

that they pushed the bourgeoisie on".

As Lª TiÕn Gi¸p in C¸ch m¹ng t s¶n vµ phong trµo c«ng nh©n quèc

tÕ tõ gi÷a thÕ kû XVI dÕn n¨m 1870 (2005), different from English

aristocracy, French aristocracy had privilege of honor, judiciary and mostkinds of taxes They were exempted from every kind of taxes They onlywanted enjoining without working French farmers before revolution wasoppressed most among forces in the society They had to bear burdens offeudalism Their labor was exploited relentlessly

Moreover, due to 1788-1789 economic crisis caused by bad harvestmade financial and political crisis more serious At that time, the trade

agreement about reducing tax (1786) which only brought benefit for Frenchvinegrowers but harm for workers made French economy stagnating Manyfactories closed The life of people became harder and harder The number

of unemployed workers increased while British economy was developingmore quickly The French bourgeois was more disappointed and they felt to

be encouraged to fight for democratic rights and justice

The growing bourgeois is the main force joining in the Frenchrevolution This force supported by the starving peasants and the town poorbecame revolutionary The success of the French Revolution (14th July,1789) had a deep influence on every fields of England It abolishedcompletely French feudalism Besides that, feudalism was also shaken inEuropean countries French revolution was considered as a revolution ofEurope, too It contributed to open a new historical age: the age of gloriouscapitalism in the developed nations at that time in which new and strongforce of bourgeois led the revolution to the win

2.1.3 The "Holy Alliance"

The French revolution with the aims of: "Liberty, Equality and

Fraternity" was welcomed by everyone who wishes a national

independence and a life of justice and equality However, after then thevictory it was against the initial noble aims

To cancel Napoleon's ambitions to conquer Europe, the Holy

Alliance was set up by England and her allies "The Holy Alliance tried to

do everything to return to the pre-1789 state and to suppress democratic trends and revolutionary ideas".

2.1.4 The Industrial Revolution

The industrial revolution is discussed a lot in many historicdocumentaries In Garwood, Gardani and Peris (1992: 25), the industrialrevolution began in the second half of the 18th century This is a revolution

in which industry was "transformed from hard-work at home to

machine-work in factories" At this time, the establishment of many factories in

addition to the invention of new machines led to an expansion of the UnitedKingdom England became the most powerful and prosperousmanufacturing and there were no countries could compete with

The industrial revolution brought about many changes including bothgood and bad effects in the social life of England On the one hand,industrialization increased the wealth of the nation On the other hand, theindustrial revolution caused great hardships among the working classes Itcaused many sufferings to the working people who became moreunemployed because of the introduction of machinery into mines and mills.

In the country, English farmers were deprived of their land and driven tothe most hopeless situations The big cities and towns were directly affected

by the industrial revolution The life of people was very difficult and theyhad to work in a hard condition for long hours of working with a poorpayment

All these events have a considerable influence on the English literarydevelopment They partly determine the trend of literature as well asthought and inspiration of authors, especially of poets

2.2 Features of English literature in 19th century

-Romanticism 2.2.1 Meanings of "Romanticism"

As an "-ISM" in literature, Romanticism was defined as "the

embodiment of disillusionment in the consequences of the French revolution and in the great theories of the Enlighteners" It was the change

of purpose of French revolution that caused "an atmosphere of reaction

overspread Britain and Europe, especially after the formation of the Holy Alliance" that destroyed "the expectation of people to live in Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" This atmosphere resulted in romanticism In

addition, "romanticism was also the embodiment of the negative attitude of

various social classes towards the way of life that the post industrial revolution bourgeoisie created" To escape from the material world in

which the power of money was great due to effects of industrial revolution,the romantics on the one hand, wished to return to Nature where man couldfind himself and live in harmony with nature, where his soul could be saved

from corruption On the other hand, the romantics tried to "construct dream

world" from their own imagination The change of French revolution and

effects of industrial revolution made them disappointed and hopeless in life

as well as social progress, so they sought a remote place where materialworld was to be ignored That was the only way to live with themselves

Romantic poetry was part of the Romantic Movement Europeanliterature during the 18th-19th centuries (http://www.biblio.org) Romanticpoetry displays a return to nature and supernature by man, which is stronglyseen in the works of Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge Asromantics felt tired and did not believe in the reason and truth, they decided

to return to the beauty through nature and abstract dream world.Romanticism also emphasizes intuition, imagination and feeling

2.2.2 Content in Coleridge's poetry

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1770-1834) is an English poet, critic andphilosopher He was one of the founders of the romantic movement inEngland and one of the Lake Poets (there are two generations of theromantics: The Conservative Trend and The Cockney School) He is best

known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan, as well as his major prose work Biographia Literaria.

Like two other members of The Lake School, William Wordsworth

and Robert Southey, Coleridge "reached the manhood" in the early years of

the French revolution (English literature, 1995) Firstly, they welcomed theFrench revolution and showed their interest in vital social problems of theirtime But since the French revolution's change of purpose, they feltdisappointed and did not believe the truth and the reason They started

"rejecting both economic and social progress" They changed their attitude

to the life and "towards the idealization of patriarchal feudal past and

medieval attitude" For Coleridge, supernatural world is a safe place where

there was no injustice and exploitation People are treated in an equal way

and receive forgiveness there This is vividly expressed in his poem The

Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

Chapter III

Connotative meaning in Coleridge's The rime of

the ancient mariner

3.1 A brief introduction to the poem

3.1.1 Characters

- Ancient mariner: is the main character of the poem who is

unnaturally old with "skinny hand" and "glittering eye" He sets sails from

his native country with two hundred other men who are all saved from astrange, icy patch of ocean by an Albatross which they treat kindly to.However, he is responsible for killing the Albatross although it is animpulsive and inexplicable action The ancient mariner shoots the bird withhis crossbow and is punished for his crime by a spirit who loves theAlbatross And that is why he is cursed by his dead shipmates and he has tosuffer from agony that is only abated when he finishes telling the story withsome one

- Wedding Guest: is one of three people on their way to a wedding

reception and is the person listening to the whole of the ancient mariner'sstory Firstly he is afraid of the ancient mariner and does not want to hear

but after the story finishes, he becomes both "sadder and wiser".

- The sailors: are two hundred seamen who set sails with the ancient

mariner on one clear and sunny day They feed and play with the Albatrossand are saved from the icy world of the "rime" after a storm by it Onlywhen the ancient mariner kills the bird inexplicably do all of them begin tosuffer from punishment from the nature, such as heat or thirst They hangthe Albatross's corpse around the ancient mariner's neck as a way to remindhim of his crime And from then they always curse the ancient mariner withtheir eyes Even when their souls are near to Death and fly out, their bodies

do not decay and continue existing to curse the ancient mariner

- Albatross: is a great, white sea bird that saves the sailors from the

icy world of the "rime" by allowing them to steer through the ice and

sending them a good, strong wind At the first time, the sailors have a goodrelationship with the Albatross They play with and care it carefully Theyfeed it everyday and it often flies alongside the ship until the ancientmariner shoots it with his cross-bow Its corpse is hung around the ancientmariner's neck as a reminder of his crime and falls off only when he is able

to appreciate the beauty of nature and pray once more The Albatross isloved by a powerful spirit who decides to kill the sailors while leaving theancient mariner to a special agony of Life-in-Death

- Death: is embodied in a huge image of the ghost ship and

Life-in-Death is embodied in a beautiful, naked, ghostly woman with golden hair

and red lips The Dead wins the two hundred sailors' bodies while Death wins the ancient mariner's soul.

Life-in Hermit: a person living alone with nature in the wood for praying

three times a day He sails on a small boat together with Pilot and his boyfor the purpose of saving the ancient mariner The ancient mariner respectsthe Hermit and asks him to absolve him of his sin The Hermit is the firstperson who the ancient mariner is compelled to tell his tale to

- First voice and second voice: These two voices appear in the

ancient mariner's swoon when the ship reaches the equator the second timeand the ancient mariner fell unconsciously They discuss the fate of theancient mariner and they knew he would continue to be punished by a spiritwhich loves the Albatross because they may belong to a spirit

IV describes in details the loneliness that the ancient mariner felt Theguilty soul is cut off from not only its human consolation but also from thefriendship of nature Part V continues the process of the soul's revival Part

VI tells the process of healing Part VII tells of the forgiveness given to themariner The guilty man is restored to the world of living men This is a

short summary of the poem from Http://www.en.wikipedia.org.

An ancient mariner, unnatural old and skinny with a "glittering eye"

stops a Wedding Guest who is on his way to a wedding reception with twocompanions to tell his story When he was still younger, the ancient marinerset sails with two hundred other sailors from his native country in a niceday There was nothing happened until the ship reached the equator

Suddenly, a terrible storm appeared and drove the ship southwards

into a "rime"- a strange, icy patch of ocean All of them were in a very

difficult situation until an Albatross appeared out of the mist No soonerthan the sailors fed id did the ice break and they were able to steer through

Once day, however, the ancient mariner shot and killed the Albatross onimpulse After that, all the sailors had to suffer from the punishment of thenature The ship could not move, the wind stopped blowing, the sun becamehotter and hotter and there was no fresh water to drink but salty ocean.Especially, the ancient mariner had to live with an agony He was cursed byhis shipmates with their eyes They hang the Albatross's corpse on theancient mariner's neck.

A ship appeared on the horizon and the ancient mariner immediatelytried to call out by biting his arm The ship was strange and when it camenearer, the ancient mariner realized that was a ghost ship carrying the Deathand the Life-in-Death The mariner drifted on the ocean and unable to pray.One night he saw some beautiful water-snakes playing happily in the icymoonlight, he suddenly had a strange and comfortable feeling Naturally,

he blessed them When the ancient mariner was finally able to pray, theAlbatross fell from his neck and sank into the sea He could finally sleepand dreamed of water After that, the situation became better The shipcould move again, the wind continued to blow and the Sun was no longertoo hot However, the ship reached the equator for the second time makingthe ancient mariner to fall unconsciously In his swoon, he heard two voicesdiscussing his fate They said he would continue to be punished for hiscrime and he knew this is true

Finally, the ancient mariner reached his native country's shore Hewas very happy to meet the Pilot, his boy and Hermit rowing a small boatout to help him But when the boat came nearer, it sank suddenly The Pilotand his boy lost their mind after pulling the ancient mariner The ancientmariner intended to ask the Hermit to absolve him of his sin and that is time

he learned of his curse He had to tell his tale to others from beginning toend that is a way helping him to relieve his agony That is the reason hestops the Wedding Guest and he says that the best way to become closewith God is to respect all of his creatures because he loves them all

3.2 Major Themes in the Poem

included in the volume Lyrical Ballads which marked the beginning of

romanticism in England Coleridge's The rime of the ancient mariner was astory of the supernatural world that made him famous The subject of the

supernatural world was a favourite to him and made his poetry differentfrom two other poets of the same generation: Wordsworth and Southey In

addition, the poem The rime of the ancient mariner also contains many

other themes, such as: imprisonment, retribution, liminality and religion Inthis study, we only focus on two main ones: the natural world and thereligion

3.2.1 The Natural World

As we mentioned in the previous chapter, the 19th century Englishliterature reflects a deep interest in nature which does not focus on the

description of beautiful scenes but the information of "fantastic dream

worlds" with a vivid imagination and of spiritual influence on life In The rime of the ancient mariner, there are many natural images that are both

beautiful and frightening Nature in Coleridge's poetry is so strange andpowerful that men become very small Besides, the natural phenomena arealso different from daily ones and they are unreasonable

Behind the images of nature in the poem are implications Under theauthor's pen, everything on the earthy life has an implicit meaning-that may

be a spiritual world - the metaphysical As we can see from the title of the

poem, 'the word "rime" can mean "ice" and it can be pronounced as

"rhymed" In a sense, this is related to the rhymed story of the ancient

mariner - the main character of the poem It is also the tale of "the land of

mist and snow" The title The rime of the ancient mariner suggests the

"rhymed" or tale with the actual "rime" or icy world where the ancient

mariner's troubles begin when the ship reached the Line and trapped in theicy world This is analysed in the next parts

3.2.2 The Religion

Religious element is showed most in part VII of the poem Theancient mariner essentially preaches closeness to God through prayer andthe willingness to show respect to all of God's creatures He expresses hisinterest to join others in prayer:

To walk together to the kirk,And all together pray,

While each to his great Father bends,Old men, and babes, and loving friendsAnd youths and maidens gay !

when he admires the Hermit who does nothing but pray, practice humilitybefore God and openly revere God's creatures That is the reason why theancient mariner wants to ask the Hermit the way to absolve him of his sinand the Hermit himself is the first person to whom the ancient mariner tellshis tale

Coleridge claimed that he did not intend for the poem to have amoral, but obviously the poem leaves the readers a valuable lesson aboutthe attitude to God's creatures that the Wedding Guest acknowledged afterhearing the story

He went like one that hath been stunned, And is of sense forlorn :

A sadder and a wiser man,

He rose the morrow morn.

3.3 Connotative meaning in the poem

The rime of the ancient mariner is a romantic poem in which many

natural and religious symbols appear with different implicit meanings Theuse of words in the poem is really impressive to readers by variousmeanings behind their literal meanings In this study, we only focus onanalysing words denoting some typical images related to the themesmentioned above

3.3.1 Connotative meaning of natural symbols

Reading The rime of the ancient mariner from its title onwards, we notice first the use of the word ancient In language, words are combined

together according to certain grammatical structure When two lexical

words ancient and mariner stand alone, each has its own grammatical and lexical meaning The word ancient is an adjective denoting something that

is very old or belongs to the past This word is usually used for inanimateand often only natural subjects with old-fashioned meaning However, in

the title the word is put in combination with the word mariner that is a noun

denoting a person This implies there is a close relationship between the

nature and the man presenting for the temporal world The new conceptabout link between the mariner and the natural world resulted from thecombination of the two lexical words is proven by a fact that there are lots

of natural phenomena occuring at different levels around the main character

ancient mariner He suffers from punishments of natural and spiritual

forces as a consequence of killing the Albatross

The Albatross is the most typical natural symbol in the poem.

Literally, the Albatross is a type of great, white sea bird with long wings

(English-English-Vietnamese Dictionary) However, the image of the

Albatross in the poem carries other meanings apart from its literal one as

an animal - a great sea bird It represents "a bird of good omen" coming through "the snow - fog, and was received with joy and hospitality":

At length did cross an Albatross, Thorough the fog it came ;

As if it had been a Christian soul,

We hailed it in God's name.

connotation According to the experience of the sailors, the bird is a sign of

good luck that brings good and strong wind helping the ship to steer

through the ice:

The ice did split with a thunder-fit ;The helmsman steered us through !

with two hundred other sailors from his native land on a sunny and clear

day until the ship reached the equator: "The Mariner tells how the ship

sailed southward with a good wind and fair weather, till it reached the Line" The ship suddenly encountered a terrible storm and the sailors met a

lot of difficulties:

With sloping masts and dipping prow,

As who pursued with yell and blow Still treads the shadow of his foe, And forward bends his head,

The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, The southward aye we fled.

Based on the dictionary definition, we can relize that two words

mariner and sailor have the same denotation A question given here is that

there is any difference between them The two words share a commondenotative meaning as the seaman but their connotation is different Behind

the way of using the word mariner, the author wants to convey his attitude

to the main character In a sense, the term sailor has a neutral meaning as it

denotes a member of a ship's crew who purely sails Whereas, the word

mariner makes readers think of a sailor who belongs to the marine world In

a sense, there is a very close relation between the mariner and the sea Itseems that the mariner is a sailor who is really excellent in sailing The

word mariner, to some extent, carries an additional element of emotion It

seems that Coleridge expresses his deep sympathies to the man called themariner in the poem It is only due to a great emotion for his character, thepoet could describe successfully in details sufferings as well as mood of the

mariner Therefore, the term mariner has an affective connotation Also,

mariner is dated and poetic word, that is, it has stylistic connotation

meaning behind its literal meaning In terms of literal meaning, the

equator is the boundary between the earth's hemispheres; an imaginary

line or one drawn on a map (English-English-Vietnamese Dictionary), but

in the poem, the Line may imply an obstacle as well It might be

considered a symbol of the temporal worl and the first incident from which

many events happened .When the ship reached the Line, there were novisible creatures there besides the sailors:

Nor shapes of men nor beasts we The ice was all between.

The sailors were surrounded by the icy world with huge icy forms andterrifying sounds:

The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around :

It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound !

Therefore, the Line here connotes not only an obstacle for the ship but also

a starting point leading to the appearance of the bird and punishments for

the ancient mariner later In other words, The Line is not purely a typical

example of the temporal world but it conveys another spiritual meaning In

addition, the ice is also a natural symbol The icy world together with the

Line can be felt as the first signs of the difficulties and challenges that the

crew will encounter They are considered places of very powerful spirits

who create punishments by impossing the sufferings on the sailors The use

of verbs cracked, growled, roared and howled as notional words plays an important role to highlight the intense danger of the icy world, that is, the

power of nature These verbs are used in a situation that the ship is trapped

in the icy world Thus, they have stylistic connotation besides their literalmeanings as to make st break without dividing into sepatate parts (to crack),

to make a low threatening sound (to growl), to make a long loud deep soud(to roar), to make a long loud cry(to howl) (English-English-VietnameseDictionary)

Due to the appearance of the Albatross from out of the mist, thesituation of the sailors had changed No sooner had the sailors treated itkindly, fed it and played with it than the ice broke and the ship could steerthrough:

And every day, for food or play, Came to the mariner's hollo !

The Albatross is regarded as a good luck that helps the ship to escape fromthe serious situation However, the ancient mariner shot and killed theAlbatross on impulse No one could explain what the reason for his actionwas As a result, he and his shipmates received hard sufferings, bothphysical and spiritual hurts Since the Albatross was killed, the wind andmist stopped, the Sun became hotter and hotter:

All in a hot and copper sky, The bloody Sun, at noon,

Right up above the mast did stand,

No bigger than the Moon.

The Sun, the wind are both images of nature that changed their

"attitude" to the crime of the ancient mariner:

The Sun came upon the left Out of the sea came here And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea.

Was tyrannous ans strong:

He struck with his o'ertaking wing And chased us south along.

The Sun and the storm-blast is now not only the symbols of the

nature but also represent for the power of natural force The change of the

Sun and the wind is no longer the change of natural phenomena but it is

perceived as the first forms of punishment which the ancient mariner had to

pay for killing the bird of good luck from the nature The nature seemed to

be so angry that it made the ship unable to move and lied on the ocean:

As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean.

When the ship entered the Pacific Ocean and sailed northward, even

it reached the Line, the wind still blew and the sea was still silent:

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free ;

We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea.

But after the ancient mariner killed the Albatross, the ocean became a

horrifying place Unlike the air of peacefulness and restfulness of "slimy

things":

Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs Upon the slimy sea.

the ocean - a symbol of the nature was now very terrifying:

About, about, in reel and rout The death-fires danced at night ; The water, like a witch's oils, Burnt green, and blue and white.

at night in a context of The water, like a witch's oils instead of slimy things.

That proves there is feedback from the nature at once after the ancient

mariner's action The ocean - the masts of salt water that covers most of

the earth's surface (English-English-Vietnamese Dictionary) carries

another implication in the poem When saying the term ocean we oftenthink first of the immensity That is immensity of universe, of temporal

world and of nature which can control everything As analyzed above, the

ocean is an image of natural world and thus, it is regarded as a powerful

force that represents the nature In this case, the poet expresses the

disapproval of the nature for the ancient mariner's action of killing the birdthrough the image of ocean

killed by the ancient mariner Behind the literal meaning of the term

"ocean", it represents the power of nature These two things are associated

and closely related to each other The author places the ancient mariner out

in the ocean to make him very small in comparison with the natural world

as well as to emphasize the largeness and the power of nature in front of theman The change of the sea implies the disapproval of the nature and theevaluative connotation of the word ocean can be felt when we understandthe author's attitude and reaction to the ancient mariner's action

Not only the nature but also the other sailors did "cry out "against the

ancient mariner for killing the Albatross They were angry with him forshooting the bird of good luck which they believed had saved them fromthe icy world They supposed the ancient mariner must be responsible forhis crime and for their fate:

Ah wretch ! said they, the bird to slay, That made the breeze to blow !

Although they did not know exactly why the ancient mariner shot theAlbatross, they thought he killed the bird for no good reason That is whythey cursed him for making the wind disappear and they were so angry that

they raised their voice "the bird to slay" The word slay is used in this situation to emphasize a high degree of disapproval The term slay has the same denotation as the term kill However, the connotation of these two verbs is obviously different to slay means to kill in a violent way

(especially an enemy) In the poem, the ancient mariner killed the Albatrosswith his cross-bow:

Why look'st thou so ?' With my cross-bow

I shot the ALBATROSS.

The Albatross used to be the close friend of the sailors, they fed itand played together happily Furthermore, it is the Albatross that helpedthem escape from the icy world and continue their travel However, it wasinexplicable that it was killed by the hand of one sailor That is the reasonthe ancient mariner had to suffer curse from his shipmates who thought the

ancient mariner's crime is a violent and wicked action The word slay expresses high degree of the sailors' and the author's disapproval That is, the meaning of the word slay here need to be understood more explicitly as

bearing an affective connotation The word also has a stylistic connotation

as it is related to the context of the type and purpose of communication(poetic)

As the bird had been killed, the nature started to punish theshipmen.They were trapped in their ship on the windless ocean for sometime and eventually were tortured by thirst:

Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.

The sailors had to live in isolation to the world with only slimy creatures onthe sea They were punished for the ancient mariner's mistake and all ofthem had to suffer from great punishment from the nature A fact is that

what they need so badly - water, is all around them but is entirely

undrinkable These lines of the poem are very meaningful They imply a

situation in which one is surrounded by the thing one desires, but is deniedt nevertheless Water is a real image and an essential thing for human.

However, the water here is available around but useless It seems a paradox

that contributes to confirm the power of nature over man's power The

sailors were cut off from the man's civilization even though there weremany of them together They were denied the basic human ability to

communicate Besides the literal meaning of a liquid without colour, smell

and taste, the word water is connoted as the most necessary thing for man's

life What is more, the word water which is repeated twice here implies an

urgent need for water to drink, and it can be considerd to have an emphatic

or intensifying connotation However, to have a full interpretation, we mustconsider the words in the relation with other words, even with othersentences In this poem, the meaningful implication mentioned above need

to be put in the combination of two lines

At that time, the ancient mariner was the only sailor who did not die

on the ship and he was very lonely His only living friends were "slimy

creatures" on the sea and he realise clearly the solitude Only when the

water-snakes frolicked beside the boat was there a great change:

I watched the water-snakes:

They moved in tracks of shining white, And when they reared, the elfish light Fell off in hoary flakes.

The water-snakes belong to the natural world, they symbolize the beauty

of nature Behind this meaning, the image of water-snakes has another one.

The sight of beautiful water-snakes motivated the ancient mariner's spirit:

Their beauty might declare:

A spring of love gushed from my heart,And I blessed them unaware :

It means that the ancient mariner was able to feel and appreciate the beauty

of the natural world, naturally he could pray It also means eventually hecould redeem himself and heal the relationship with the nature:

The self-same moment I could pray;

And from my neck so free

The Albatross fell off, and sankLike lead into the sea.

As a result, the corpse of the Albatross that was hang on the ancientmariner's neck fell off and sank into the sea Therefore, apart from the

meaning as a kind of animal, the water-snakes represent the beauty of

nature that was an important motivation helping the ancient mariner be

able to pray

In the beginning of the poem, the ship is a vehicle of adventure, and

the sailors traveled together in a nice day with their eagerness However,

since the ancient mariner killed the Albatross it quickly became a prison-a

prison on the ocean In the poem, the ship may be called a prison in which

prisoner is the ancient mariner In a sense, the ship, in this particularcircumstance, and the prison share some common features The ship is ameans used to carries men and now a man on the ship caused crime and hehad to live in a hard condition to pay price for his action Therefore, theship may be considered a prison where the prisoner could think over hisguilt and be aware of his mistakes in this environment This resemblance isbetween two physical objects: the ship and prison In terms of language, theprison is denoted from the word ship Thus, we have demonstrativedenotation of the term ship

which effectively deprives them of voice and laughter and puts them inisolation They were not able to control their fate The spiritual world

continued to punish the ancient mariner and his fellow sailors The ship

also symbolizes the body of man Man experiences everyday setbacks and

emotions, and the ship must endure everyday issues as well The shipcarries the ancient mariner and his crew, just as the body carries the soul.From these analyses, the ancient mariner and his crew may be symbolized

as the spirit of man In the poem, the character Life-in-Death is closely

related to the spirit who loves the Albatross

One day, the ancient mariner noticed some thing approaching fromthe west:

When looking westward, I beheld

A something in the sky.