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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 comes upon the Ship when it reaches the Line?

2. How many men does the Mariner meet?

3. The water is compared to what mystical substance?

4. What is the name of the learned Jew?

5. What does the Hermit instruct the Mariner to teach others?

Short Essay Questions

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

2. What does it mean to be "vigilant for truth" and to "maintain proportion?"

3. Why do you think that the character listening to the Mariner is a wedding guest?

4. Why is it important for the mind to contemplate the invisible Natures?

5. Why is the human mind "always circled around a knowledge of these things" but never attains such knowledge?

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

7. Who is responsible for the becalming of the Ship, and how is this known?

8. Is the crew superstitious? If so, give two examples.

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. Briefly explain what you take to be the significance of the Mariner shooting the Albatross with a crossbow.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Write an essay on the role of the natural world in the poem. Analyze how it is used by characters and forces, why it is significant, in what ways it is important to the advancement of the story, how it is abused, and in what ways it is essential to the story.

Essay Topic 2

Write an essay on the theme of sin throughout the poem. Analyze how it is significant to the plot and the meaning. Be sure to include the sins of both the Mariner and the crew, how sin in the natural world relates to the supernatural world, and how those sins effected their fates.

Essay Topic 3

Analyze the superstition of the characters in the poem. How does superstition become a controlling factor in the lives of those on the Ship? How is superstition portrayed in the story? Is it frivolous and silly, or justified? Why or why not? Be sure to cite specific examples from the text.

(see the answer keys)

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