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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. Who is guiding, not steering, the Ship while it is being crewed by the dead men?

2. What objects are at the Mariner's feet during his suffering in Part IV?

3. What falls into the sea, like lead?

4. How many men are there in the crew?

5. Which of the following does the Mariner NOT describe seeing when he returns to his country?

Short Essay Questions

1. What do the two spirits discuss at the end of Part V?

2. What are the sounds the Mariner hears towards the end of Part VI, and how are they received by him?

3. What is the Mariner's initial reaction to his surroundings in Part IV? Why is this significant?

4. Describe what the Mariner sees when he turns his eyes back to the deck of the Ship, after describing the harbor in Part VI.

5. At the beginning of Part IV, what is the Mariner's relationship to prayer?

6. Why is it important that the Mariner remains unconscious at the beginning of Part VI? What happens when he awakes?

7. How do you describe the change in the Mariner's condition through Part IV of the poem?

8. What does the Mariner mean when he says, "O let me be awake, my God! / Or let me sleep alway," in the middle of Part VI?

9. How does Coleridge use colors in Part IV of the poem? What are some of the colors he uses?

10. Describe the dice game between Death and Life-in-Death.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the mounting of despair in the first half of the poem. What sort of events prompt feelings of despair? What influence upon despair is had by the supernatural? How much of the despair experience is strictly natural? Be sure to mention the inability to speak, and particularly to pray.

Essay Topic 2

Provide an analysis of the Mariner's character. How does his character change from the beginning of his narrative to the end? How does he describe in the framing part of the story? What are his joys and sorrows? How does he change from before he tells his story to after he tells it?

Essay Topic 3

Personification of inanimate objects is a device used consistently throughout the poem. Explain the significance of the major personifications in the poem (the Sun, the Moon, Death, the Ocean). How does personifying these elements impact the story and the main theme of the story (visible and invisible Natures)?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 900 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample