The Rime of the Papyraceous Twin

Abstract

In this paper I explore the case of a woman, Miss M, whose twin died 'in embryo', employing as an extended metaphor Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Both the poem and Miss M's story describe 'internal world' dramas formed through very early object relationships. In Coleridge's allegorical poem we are told much about the poet's own inner world. The poem contains universal themes of destructiveness, loss and the quest for reparation; these themes illuminate the patient's story which was recounted by Miss M during assessment sessions for psychotherapy. The impact of her story, particularly its maritime images, formed many associative connections in my mind with the poem. The result for me was an enriched understanding of both the patient and the poem.Coleridge wrote his Rime during a fertile period between the years of 1797 to 1799 when the bulk of his most imaginative work was written. It tells the story of a wedding guest waylaid by an old mariner whose life task it is to recount a sea voyage of horrifying hardship to anyone he can persuade to listen to him.During the voyage a friendly albatross follows the ship-an event regarded by the mariner's fellow sailors as a good omen. However, the mariner, for reasons best known to his unconscious, shoots the bird with his crossbow, much to the consternation of his seamates who fear some terrible reprisal for this unlucky deed. When at first all continues to go well, the sailors withdraw their disapproval and agree it was right to kill the bird. Before long the ship is becalmed. The sailors change their minds and now judge the mariner responsible for this dreadful misfortune.The albatross, a reminder of the mariner's destructive act, is hung around his shoulders. A drought-induced hallucinatory state follows, in which Death and his Spectre-Woman partner dice for the mariner and his shipmates. The latter are won by Death; the mariner remains only barely alive in a state of living death. Eventually he finds himself able to pray. The albatross falls from his neck, a breeze begins to blow and the ship is at last brought near to land, where it sinks. The mariner is picked up by a pilot's boat and recounts his story to an old hermit who lives in the woods nearby.Having been a captive audience to the Ancient Mariner's tale, the wedding guest is now free to leave -'a sadder and a wiser man'.This gripping and profoundly moral narrative may be understood from a number of different perspectives. Firstly, as a theological parable about good and evil. The poem moves from an initial state of innocence to a 'fall' through sin for which all share responsibility, followed by a resurrection. The message of the poem is about the potential for redemption through suffering and penance.From an eco-political viewpoint, it is an allegory of man's wanton destructiveness of his environment; the appalling consequences unleashed by such violations of Nature's laws -and the heavy price paid by man for his mindless behaviour. A prophetic

The Effect of Twinship on the Mysticism of Catherine of Siena (1347-1380): A Vergotean Analysis

“…She provides clinical material to help readers to understand the psychological consequences of the loss of a twin (cf. Lewis & Bryan,1988, Heller, 1993. The process of mourning for is intense and best experienced within a group of twins who lost twins at a similar age since they can understand in an empathic way.…”