POEM EXPLICATION ON “THE RIME OF
THE ANCIENT MARINER” BY SAMUEL
COLERIDGE
By: Marianne File and Elizabeth
Hamilt
LITERAL SENSE IN A POEM
 1) a. At first, the sailors were quite upset with the Mariner and
the fact that he killed the Albatross. When the fog cleared
though, the sailors decided that the bird didn’t control the
breezes but the fog so then they congratulated him. Then the
breezes slowed down and the ship became idle. Some of the
sailors dreamed that a spirit followed beneath the ship from the
land of mist and snow. The sailors blaimed the Mariner for what
happened and hung the bird around the Mariner’s neck like a
cross.
DICTION OF A POEM
2) a. The poem consists of a pretty clear structure with concrete descriptions
with vivid descriptions of what was occurring on the ship. Slang was not
really a problem on this poem and was very easily readable for anyone who
isn’t good with poems.
b. In my opinion, I don’t think this poem creates innovative ideas or
expressions. I honestly think this poem was meant to be a more straight
forward poem.
DICTION OF THE POEM
2) c. I wouldn’t say this poem has any underlying meaning since everything
is pretty straight forward. Although I would have to say that the bird
plays a big role in this section of the poem.
d. Albatrosses were considered good luck by sailors; figurative sense of
"burden" (1936) is from Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
(1798) about the bad luck of a sailor who shoots an albatross and then
is forced to wear its corpse as an indication that he, not the whole ship,
offended against the bird. The prison-island of Alcatraz in San Francisco
Bay is named for pelicans that roosted there.
THE TONE AND MOOD OF THE POEM
3) a. The emotion of this poem shows a distraught and anxious setting. The
reason for this setting is because of the fact that the Mariner killed the bird
when they were thinking the bird was the key to their success. Once the
news was out that the bird was killed, the moods changed to negative and
distrustful, wanting to kill the Mariner.
b. I would say most of this section of the whole poem was leaning towards
more the angry and sad side, than the happy side.
TONE AND MOOD CONTINUED
 3) c. Nothing is ironic about this poem in my opinion. When the bird gets
killed, there is a direct stanza on what took place. The poem gives off an
anxious vibe, just as the mood was at the time. I don’t see anything ironic
about that.
d. I feel like the mood is negative towards the Mariner. I feel as if all of the
rest of the sailors on the ship are tense and want to kill the Mariner. This
eventually happens anyways, but even before I felt like they were not too
pleased with the Mariner.
THE RHETORICAL SITUATION IMPLIED BY
THE POEM
4) a. The Mariner is speaking in the poem to no one in particular. In my opinion,
the poem was kind of like a journal as if he was venting while writing down
the unbelievable thing he had done while on a boat. I don’t think was a
special occasion but I think that due to the situation, he wanted to jot down
how he was feeling. The purpose was mainly to vent though.
THE RHETORICAL SITUATION
CONTINUED
4) b. The poem was written as if it seemed
like he was talking to whoever decided to
read it. Although I feel like this was being
jotted down, I feel like the poem was
written as if it were a story. This helps to
keep interest of others.
FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
 Similes: “The water, like a witch’s oil,” “As idle as a painted ship,” “Nor dim
nor red, like God’s own head.”
 Metaphors: “That made the breeze to blow,”
 Personification: “The death-fires danced at night,”
 Hyperbole, idiom, oxymoron, pun? Alliteration: “The furrow followed free,”
“Water, water, everywhere” Hyperbole: “The bloody sun, at noon”
IMAGERY
 “Slimy sea, death-fires, burnt green, blue, and white, breeze to blow, and a hot
copper sky,” “The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed
free,” “All in a hot and copper sky, The bloody sun, at noon,” “And every
tongue, through utter drought.”
 Sense mostly used is sight and touch.
 Symbolism:
 “But no sweet bird to slay”, “I had killed the bird”, “Twas right, said they, such
birds to slay,” and “The silence of the sea”.
 This poem uses symbolism with bird.
SOUND CONTRIBUTING TO A POEM
 There is no rhyme in this poem, but some words do repeat: mist, sea, blow, bird.
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Other words like root and soot appear long with shrink and drink.
A lot of repetition is used. Some lines are repeated. Mostly because the poem is
based around the sea.
Examples are: Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down; Day after day,
day after day; That made the breeze to blow.
Alliteration: “The furrow followed free,” “Water, water, everywhere”
There is repetition of vowel sounds like: noon and moon, shrink and drink, root
and soot, follow and hollo.
No onomatopoeias.
There isn’t many harsh sounds. The sea was very silent, they mariners had to talk
to make sound. Even though the poem does have any harsh or discordant
sounds, it still tells a story of fear and anxiety.
POEM STRUCTURE
 This poem is so big that it is broken into 7 parts.
 It isn’t written as a sonnet, its ballad.
 It is written in stanzas.
 There isn’t any rhyming other than some repeating of words and words
that end the same; shrink and drink is an example.