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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What do the boards of the Ship do?

2. Who/what hides in the mist?

3. What is a synonym of the word "Rime" in the poem's title?

4. What is the relationship between the Guest and the Bridegroom?

5. How is the area into which the Ship first enters, after passing the Line, described?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why is the Epigraph important to the text of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem?

2. What is difficult about believing in invisible Natures, according to Thomas Burnet and Samuel Taylor Coleridge?

3. In your own words, briefly describe the polar region. Be sure to include important descriptive details.

4. The Mariner has a look of intense regret on his face towards the end of Part I. Why does the Mariner look so, and why is it important?

5. What seems to be significant about the Guest's compulsion to listen to the Mariner's story?

6. What is significant about the lengthy explanation of invisible Spirits towards the end of Part II?

7. Why might it be significant that the crew cannot speak as part of their punishment?

8. Why is it important that the notes make it clear that Life-in-Death wins the Mariner in her game of dice with Death?

9. For what reasons are there differences between the text of the poem and the text of the notes, such as Life-in-Death only being referenced as the "Spectre-Woman" in the notes?

10. Why are the Sun and Storm-blast personified and how is their personification signified?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Explicate the structure of the poem's story. Be sure to discuss complication, climax, and reversal (as well as any other applicable dramatic elements). Analyze how the elements move from one to the next.

Essay Topic 2

Analyze the literal and allegorical significance of the Albatross within the story. Include a well-formed explication of what allegory is before demonstrating how the Albatross fulfills this explanation. Feel free to use external sources to fully show how the Albatross is an example of an allegorical object. Also be sure to relate its importance to the events of the poem.

Essay Topic 3

Present a coherent analysis of the character of Wedding-Guest. Important things to consider include:

1) His unwillingness to listen but compulsion to do so;

2) His fearful interruptions;

3) His actions at the end of the story (not attending the wedding);

4) Waking up the following morning "sadder and wiser."

(see the answer keys)

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