1. And through the drifts the snowy clifts Did send a dismal sheen: Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken - The ice was all between.
2. The sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he! And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea.
3. The souls did from their bodies fly, - They fled to bliss or woe! And every soul it passed me by, Like the whizz of my crossbow!”
4. Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down, ’Twas sad as sad could be; And we did speak only to break The silence of the sea!
What situations in contemporary life would you apply the lines to?
The fist set of lines would be used when people have this madness between them, when they are mad at each other and they feel that nothing they can do will break the ice. The second set would be used to talk about the sun and the rising of new day, to express how every day comes as easily as it goes. The third one and the fourth one to me would be used to talk about people who just died; they would be used in obituaries and gravestones.
Do you agree or disagree with Coleridge about the message in this poem? Why?
I think that this poem does have a big moral message that tries to portray some life lesson about guilt and to think before we act because if we don’t, the consequences of our actions may be too hard to handle. I do agree because I think that we sometimes do not think before we act and we then regret our actions.
Find examples of especially effective examples of simile, metaphor, personification, alliteration, assonance and internal rhyme (one of each).
Simile: “Like the wiz of my crossbow!”
Metaphor: “As green as emerald.”
Personification: “The upper air burst into life.”
Alliteration: Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
Assonance: “There was a ship,” quoth he.
`Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!’
Eftsoons his hand dropped he.
Internal Rhyme: Higher and higher every day,
Till over the mast at noon -”
The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
For he heard the loud bassoon.
