Errantry; An Essay

When the mariner's story begins, he is a content messenger with his gondola and his duty. However, in the second stanza, he puts off his messenger duties and simply sings, playfully asking a passing butterfly to be his wife. He catches the butterfly and showers her with jewels, but they quarrel and he flees, exploring many mystical lands. He ends up putting on his armor and fighting many oddly named creatures, as well as elven warriors and such. After his battle with the Dumbledors, Hummlehorns, etc, he sails home on a ship of leaves, 'he sat and sang, and furbished up, and burnished up his panoply' 'panoply' meaning a suit of armor. In the end of the poem, he takes his little gondola and continues with his duties. When you look up 'panoply' in the dictionary, it means either a suit of armor or an impressive collection of tales. If you choose the latter option, then the sentence means he is building up his tall tales. So, maybe his adventures never truly happened: it was all just his imagination, a tall tale. In the beginning, he is a messenger, but he lags, and chooses instead to sing and let his imagination run free. But at the end, he remembers what he was meant to do, and must continue his duty. Moral of the story? You duty remains, even if you choose to ignore it. He did forget, but eventually, he was forced to get his job done.