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Question
Answer the following question briefly:
Why did the mariners hang the albatross around the neck of the Ancient Mariner?
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Solution
The mariners hung the albatross around the neck of the Ancient Mariner in order to remind him of the ghasdy deed he had committed by killing the innocent bird.
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1. What can you see in the picture? Does the man look happy? Give reasons for your answer.
2. Why does he have the bird hanging around his neck?
3. Have you heard of the expression-'having an albatross around your neck'? What do you
think it means? Does it mean:
a. something that you can always be proud of
b. something that you have to do because you have no choice
c. something that is with you all the time as a reminder that you have done something wrong?
4. What is an albatross?
Here are some of the archaic words used in the poem; can you match them with the words used in modern English language that mean the same? The first one has been done for you as an example:
| stoppeth | why |
| thy | entered |
| wherefore | stopped |
| stopp'st | you |
| thou | lunatic |
| may'st | at once |
| quoth | fainting fit |
| loon | has |
| eftsoons | can't you |
| dropt | stopping |
| hath | church |
| spake | enemy |
| kirk | yes |
| paced | see |
| foe | call |
| aye | trouble |
| en | looking |
| swound | your |
| hollo | said |
| plague | dropped |
| look'st | spoke |
Using the words given above rewrite PART I of the poem in your own words. The first stanza has been done as an example:
It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?
An old sailor stopped one of the three people passing by, who asked: "Old man, with your long grey beard and glittering eye, why are you stopping me?"
Answer the following by choosing the right option from those given below:
The wedding guest remarked that he was 'next of kin' It meant that ……..
Answer the following by choosing the right option from those given below:
'He cannot choose but hear' means………
Answer the following by choosing the right option from given below:
The storm blast had been described as being tyrannous because……….
Answer the following by choosing the right option from given below:
The sailors felt depressed on reaching the land of mist and snow because……
Answer the following by choosing the right option from given below:
'God save thee, ancient Mariner, /From the fiends that plague thee thus!- Why look'st thou so?' means……….
Answer the following question briefly.
How does the mariner describe the movement of the ship as it sails away from the land?
Answer the following question briefly.
How do we know that the albatross was not afraid of the humans? Why did the sailors hail it in God's name?
Answer the following question briefly:
Why does the mariner say that 'no sweet bird did follow'?
Answer the following question briefly:
How does the mariner describe the fact that they were completely motionless in the middle of the sea?
Answer the following question briefly:
What is the irony in the ninth stanza? Explain it in your own words.
Answer the following question briefly:
Describe the condition of the mariners as expressed in the thirteenth stanza.
This is a very dramatic poem, excellent for reading aloud or even dramatising. The class should be divided into groups and given the different dramatic moments from the poem to be performed as follows. Some of them are given below:
- the first storm that they encounter
- the time spent in the land of mist and snow
- the coming of the albatross and the subsequent events till they move out
- the killing of the albatross till they reach the silent seas
- the suffering of the sailors in the hot region till they hang the albatross around the Ancient Mariner's neck.
