He Cannot Choose but Hear: The Role of Being Spellbound and The Art-Ballad

The "bright-eyed Mariner" and the "glorious sun" parallel each other because they both immobilize their subjects before a narrative is told. In part, this is implicitly linked to the brightness of the Mariner's eye and the sun itself. It is my contention that the implication of these parallel actions and bright qualities could be a metaphor for discourse. This is because in order for a text to communicate it must compel its audience to listen. The further implication of this is to imply a magical ability of the text to mesmerize or enrapture its audience into listening.

The glittering-eye of the mariner results in:

The wedding-guest stood still,
And listens like a three years, child:
The Mariner hath his will.
The wedding guest sat on a stone,
He cannot choose but hear; (14-18)

And the "bloody" and "copper sky" of the sun bestill the ship

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion,
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean. (115-118)

These are parallel actions; Both the Mariner's eyes and the Sun enrapture their audience into stillness. In turn, this stillness forces the object to listen to a narrative against their will. The guest must listen to the Mariner's adventures. While, the Sun prepares the Mariner to undergo the penance narrative (part the fourth, ll.143-221). This is because the stillness of the sun is punctuated by the appearance of Death and Life-in-Death's ship. But how are the subjects forced?

It is the luminous character of each object which spellbounds its subject. The common quality between the Mariner and the Sun is their luminosity. The epithet for the Mariner is "glittering-eye (ll.13,228) and being "bright-eyed" (ll.20, 40) or "whose eye is bright" (ll.640). Similarly, the sun is described as "nor dim, nor red, like God,s own head. In this case, it,s not the color of the sunset, but it is a radiant daytime sun. This is supported by the "copper sky; a bronze bright color. Also, It, s "no bigger than the moon." This decreases it in size because the moon is smaller in the sky than the sun, usually. This focuses the shape into an orb or a circle which is similar to an eye. The point is the qualities of being luminous parallel each other. The implied quality of this luminosity, in turn, seems to be what gives the "orbs" a power to spellbound their subject. This is supported by how the Mariner's "heart within me burns" (ll.585); he's got something he must say. Therefore, the Wedding-guest and the Mariner are both made to be still by the luminosity of an orb-shaped object.

This parallel could be a metaphor for the Art-Ballad because the similar plot element to each action is: they're precursor events to a narrative (as mentioned above). This presents the rules of discourse. There's an institutionalized speaker and audience. But, the important aspect is how the speakers immobilize or spellbound, their audience in order to communicate to them. In both cases, this is done against the will of the audience. This is supported by the rhyme scheme which has a continuous sea-song beat to it. For example: the stanza structure, for most of the poem, is a continuous ABCB. Its syntax is a repetitive eight syllable stressed/unstressed beat (see ll.115 above). The point is internally the poem can't be stopped because its rhyme structure is repetitive.

In this view, the implication of this metaphor is to reveal a theory of poetry as something magical because the luminosity of the sun and the eyes perform a spellbounding on the audience in the poem (the Wedding-guest and the Mariner). It is this ability to spellbound which is magical because, symbolically, the text is so interesting it compels the audience to listen to it, even against their will. This is supported by the epigraph; its poses the quandry of how "invisible beings exist, but their existence must be supported by proof" (pg.528). In this case, the subject of the Mariner's rhime is invisible beings (the albatross, and spirit voices). While, the sun's idling prepares the Mariner for the spirit ship. The point is their topics are fantastic. This gives them a magical quality. In turn, this is represented by their luminous qualities which spellbound their subjects into listening.

In context of the course, this seems to be the onus of the poet in an age when poetry has to compete with "niche marketing (class lecture). The onus is on the poet to catch hold of an audience in face of competing events, such as a wedding; this is loosely a text due to the singing (ll.36, 594). For a poet to reach a general audience he has to enrapture them, even when they don't want to listen. The way to do this: catch them with magical qualities not present elsewhere.

Al Provinziano