Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Read biography on P. 249, OLH

"Kubla Khan"

Note: This poem is a description of a vision Coleridge had, and as such cannot be interpreted literally. As you read, your focus should be on an appreciation of the imagery in the poem.

1. Who was Kubla Khan?

2. What does Kubla Khan order to be built?

3. In lines 6-11, how does the speaker describe the pleasure-dome?

4. Beginning with line 12, Coleridge uses words and phrases to develop a sense of mystery, danger or the supernatural. List three of these.

5. In lines 29-30, what does Kubla Khan hear "mid this tumult"?

6. Line 36 describes the pleasure-dome as a place of opposites: "A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice." Find two other opposites such as this in the poem.

7. In lines 37-40, what vision does the speaker describe?

8. What wish does the speaker express in lines 42-43?

9. The end of the poem is about the speaker and reaction he would expect of "all who heard" him. How would you describe that reaction?

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"

Note: "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is written in the form of the popular folk ballad and makes use of several ballad techniques, including the frequent use of dialogue, the presence of the supernatural, and a definite moral or theme. Coleridge added the material at the side of the stanzas to clarify the interpretation of the poem.

1. In lines 1-16, with what two methods does the Ancient Mariner attempt to get the attention of the Wedding Guest?

2. Which method is successful?

3. Why does the Ancient Mariner want to detain the Wedding Guest?

4. In lines 63-65, what creature of good omen came to the ship?

5. What happens to the creature?

6. What determines whether the Ancient Mariner's shipmates praise or denounce him for slaying the Albatross? (lines 91-110)

7. In lines 107-116, what happens to the ship to make it "as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean"?

8. In lines 131-134, in what way do some of the sailors try to explain the troubles that besiege the ship?

9. In lines 147-161, what does the Ancient Mariner see?

10. How do the Mariner and the rest of the crew know this to be an apparition of some sort?

11. According to the side notes, what crew appears to be on the skeleton ship? (lines 185-189)

12. In lines 212-219, what happens to the Ancient Mariner's fellow sailors?

13. At the beginning of Part the Fourth, why does the Wedding Guest fear the Ancient Mariner?

14. In lines 244-247, the Ancient Mariner is unable to pray. What does the Ancient Mariner do that causes him to be able to pray? (lines 272-287)

15. What happens when the Mariner begins to pray?

16. What two types of relief does the Ancient Mariner receive at the beginning of Part the Fifth?

17. The Ancient Mariner hears a roaring wind and sees strange sights. What happens in lines 351-353?

18. In lines 398-409, he hears two voices. What prediction does the "softer voice" make?

19. What is happening to the ship in lines 410-429?

20. How does the Mariner's penance begin anew when he awakens from his trance?

21. What welcome sight does the Ancient Mariner see in lines 464-467?

22. In lines 488-499, what vision does the Mariner have?

23. What three persons come to the ship in their own boat?

24. In lines 546-555, what happens to the ship and to the Ancient Mariner as the boat nears them?

25. What continuing penance must the Mariner pay, according to lines 582-590?

26. What is the moral of the tale?