Imagery in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

       In “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the language is beautiful. He uses incredible imagery, as well as very complex symbolism. Although there are several examples of the beautiful language used by Coleridge, I will only use a few examples of the imagery in this poem to get my point across. At the point in the story where the mariner and his fellow sailors find themselves stranded in the middle of the ocean, Coleridge describes the situation with vivid imagery. He wrote, “water, water, every where,/and all the boards did shrink;/water, water, every where,/nor any drop to drink” (Coleridge 1619). As simple as these words are, it creates a visual picture of how desperate the sailors are. They are surrounded by water on all sides without any hope of survival, and it has all occurred as a punishment for the severe sin committed by the mariner. Not only does Coleridge use an image to describe the desperation of a situation, but he also uses the visual effects of this image to describe the punishment that the Mariner must endure, so this picture has much more meaning than the words initially call for. Another time when Coleridge uses imagery is when he describes snakes in the water by saying, “I watched their rich attire:/blue, glossy green, and velvet black,/they coiled and swam; and every track/was a flash of golden fire” (Coleridge 1623). Coleridge uses very lengthy and deep descriptions when describing surroundings he deems important, and this allows him to control what images stick out in the readers mind. A writer that does this has a lot of power over the reader and this is the beauty of Coleridge’s writing.

The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th ed. Eds. Stephen Greenblatt et al. Vol A. New York, NY: W.W. Norton& Company, Inc., 2006. 1615-1632. Print.