Coleridge's Diction Of The Poem To The Mariner

However, gloss in this poem is harmful to readers since it limits the range that the poem could be interpreted, removes tension from the story, and diverts attention away from the story through excessive information.

The worst thing a story can do is break reader immersion. Readers can pick up on even small inconsistencies in a story and be drawn out of the world they are imagining. It is important for authors to polish their work, so readers can read from start to end without ever being distracted. This allows all the tension and emotions given off by the story to be released at a climax and then resolved with the ending. Without giving the reader the opportunity to experience a story without distractions, a story can’t be enjoyed fully. Therefore,

Traditionally the gloss is used to explain complicated paragraphs. However, Coleridge decides to provide a gloss for even relatively clear stanzas such as, “[the mariner] holds him with his glittering eye / The Wedding-Guest stood still, / And listens like a three years’ child.” (16). Coleridge either truly believes that the reader's doesn’t understand this part of the story, or he wants to remove the reader from the world he’s describing. Since no complex language or literary device is used to suggest anything but the listener is captivated by the story, I argue it is for the latter reason. As readers, we must re-read that, “the Wedding Guest is spellbound by the eye of the old seafaring man” (16). This retelling provides a brief pause in the progression of the story which draws the reader out of the world he is immersed in. Another example is when the Mariner is describing the condition right after killing the Albatross, “[d]own dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down.” (8). Once again, it is not hard to decipher that the wind stopped blowing and caused the sails to literally drop down. Rather than feel anxious and excited to learn what happens next, the gloss provided by Coleridge essentially summarizes the stanza. This slows down the pace of the story and, therefore, removes a lot of the effect that the

In the stanza right after the one in the previous paragraph, Coleridge uses imagery when he writes, “The very deep did rot: O Christ! / That ever this should be! / Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs / Upon the slimy sea.” (9). However, the difference is that there is no accompanying gloss to this stanza. Since there is no explanation provided, each reader pictures something a bit different in their own mind that best help them interpret these lines. Even though this may cause slight differences in interpretation, the overall feeling of icky disgust is still universally understood. By not being forced to read something that isn’t the story, we can move on to the next stanza with our own personal images in our mind without