All of This Has Happened Before: Eternal Return in “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

Abstract

The myth of eternal return has been a recurring theme in various mythologies of various cultures throughout the world. It has been a way, for the archaic people, to construe the world they live in. The significance of the eternal time that replenishes itself and renews the universe has been a ray of hope for the people who sought after a meaning for their lives and deaths. Instead of a linear, chronological timeline where everything happens once and for all, eternal return calls for the re-enactment and re-actualization of the deeds of gods or mythical beings to incur their spirits to bless, or guide people. Nietzsche’s take on the concept is quite different as he deems this recurrent existence nihilistic and tries to find a way out of this labyrinth. His solution for, as well as his predicament in becoming the Superman is this rhetorical cyclical existence. Coleridge’s tour de force “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” embodies the concept of eternal return and the eternal recurrence of the same perfectly. The ancient mariner’s long life and superhuman powers are testaments to his superhuman existence. His repetitive reiteration of his story therefore, is his re-enactment of the same event over and over in an attempt to transcend it in a Zarathustran fashion. The aim of this paper, therefore, is to analyse “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in terms of Eliadean and Nietzschean versions of eternal return and to show how by rising above this recurrent and cyclical existence the ancient mariner rises as a Superman.

Keywords

• Eternal Return
• Eternal Recurrence
• Romanticism
• Nietzsche
• Mircea Eliade

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