Coleridge Questions
The poem as narrative
Discuss how, though Coleridge uses the poetic form, he is still concerned principally
to tell an exciting and fantastic story.
The narrative voice
The mariner's tale, told in the first-person, is set in a third-person narrative about a
wedding. Discuss how the poet uses the first person narrative voice to make the tale
more vivid and moving.
Narrative structure
This poem has a narrative “frame”—a tale set within a tale. Why does
Coleridge make the Mariner’s auditor a Wedding-Guest? Also, who is the
tale’s first auditor and what significance does that person have in the context
of the strange nature of the tale?
The theme of the supernatural
The poem is full of strange, macabre, uncanny or “Gothic” elements. Gothic horror
fiction was very popular at the time it was written. Discuss how these elements
appear in the poem. You should consider:
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the strange weather;
the albatross as a bird of “good omen”;
Death and Life-in-death;
the spirit from “the land of mist and snow”, and the two spirits the mariner
hears in his trance;
the angelic spirits which move the bodies of the dead men;
the madness of the pilot and his boy;
the mariner's “strange power of speech”,
and anything else of interest.
Imagery
This poem is very vivid, as the poet describes some spectacular scenes. These are
often memorable in themselves but also symbolise other things, for the people in the
poem as much as the reader, sometimes. Elsewhere comparisons are made to
describe things, as when the becalmed vessel is said to be “As idle as a painted
ship/Upon a painted ocean”. Find some of the more striking or memorable images
and discuss the use the poet makes of them.
Phonological effects
The poet uses effects of rhyme, alliteration and pacing i.e. line "For the sky and the
sea, and the sea and the sky" which suggests the slow passing of time and the
mariner's weariness. Discuss how these are used by Coleridge to re-enforce ideas in
the poem.
Lexis/Diction
Coleridge uses many dialect (regional non-standard) words, and archaic (oldfashioned) spellings of standard words.
Why does he do this? Discuss particular examples of unusual words or spellings.
Perspective
A wedding guest who does not know the mariner is forced to listen to his tale. Why
does Coleridge employ this device? Is the guest meant to guide the reader's
response to the mariner's tale?
Setting
A wedding is a social celebration of the natural order and of new beginnings. Why is
it significant that the mariner tells his story to a wedding guest? Would the moral of
the story be changed if the mariner had told his tale to the groom or bride?
Structure/form
Later versions of the poem, Coleridge removed many archaic words and spellings
that had appeared in the original version. Among his revisions was the addition of
the epigraph and the marginal glosses. How important are the glosses to your
understanding of the poem? Does this suggest that Coleridge was successful or
unsuccessful in conveying his meaning poetically?
Many Romantics believed that a writer could only write when inspired to do so. What
do Coleridge's revisions of the poem indicate about the importance of editing in the
writing process?
At the beginning of Part 4, the wedding guest interrupts the mariner's story to
express his fears. Why does Coleridge not have the mariner tell his tale straight
through?
Symbolism
Symbols are important in the poem. Traditionally, snakes have represented both
good (as in the symbol for the medical profession, where they represent healing
powers) and evil (as with the serpent in the Garden of Eden). What other examples
are there of the symbolic use of snakes? Explain why Coleridge involved a water
snake in the poem's climax.
Style
Do you think that Coleridge succeeds in using simple, colloquial language in the
poem? Be sure to consider the impact of the ballad form and rhyme scheme on the
narrative style.