2. What is significant about the Albatross being mentioned explicitly as a bird of good omen in the notes, and not in the Mariner's relation of the tale?

3. Where and why is the Ship stranded?

4. 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?

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

6. Describe Thomas Burnet's overall attitude towards the invisible Nature.

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

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

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

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 supernatural world in the poem. Analyze its interaction with the natural world, the poem's characters, and the reasons it acts the way it does. Be certain to discuss the different attitudes of the different supernatural forces towards the Mariner.

Essay Topic 2

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 3

Analyze the depictions of human nature in the story. Describe in what ways they are or are not accurate. Be sure to include the following characters in your analysis:

1) The Mariner.

2) The Crew.

3) The Wedding-Guest.

4) The Hermit OR the Pilot.

(see the answer keys)

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