ABSTRACT
This chapter examines McEathron's comparisons between 'A Vision of the Sea' and 'The Ancient Mariner' as a starting point for a discussion of the relation between the two poems, that discussion will argue that the 'cosmology' of 'The Ancient Mariner'. The chapter suggests that the Mariner attributes Christian significance to the albatross and diabolic significance to his act of murder as a means of comprehending the supernatural events that follow him from 'the Land of Mist and Snow'. As such, 'A Vision of the Sea', which stresses both the amorality and the beautiful harmony of apparently terrifying natural forces, can be said to herald the advent of Shelley's mature social and political vision. Shelley's engagement in the Prometheus Unbound volume with Coleridge's 'The Ancient Mariner' extends to the title poem of the collection. As with 'The Ancient Mariner', the action of Shelley's lyrical drama also turns upon a curse.
