The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is written in loose, short ballad stanzas usually either four or six lines long but, occasionally, as many as nine lines long. There are exceptions though. These exceptions are usually to express the guilt of the mariner, therefore the change in form, make one realise this.
The Arrival of the Bee Box has more of a distorted rhythm. "The Arrival of the Bee Box" exceeds the standard five-line stanza pattern. It closes with an extra line which is significant as that gives the overall distorted feeling. There is on where in the poem that this can be inserted, “The box is only temporary." This final utterance not only announces the inevitable displacement of the box but also outstrips the formal boundaries set by the poem. The poem is structured in such a disorientated way, because I think Plath is trying to express her feelings of being confused about what to do with her life, therefore the distorted form gives this feeling.
Repetition is used quite often throughout the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, but not so often in The Arrival of the Bee Box. In Coleridge’s poem, personally, I think that he uses repetition to express how he is feeling at that point. The more times you hear a specific line, the more of a picture is created in ones head. “For all averred, I had killed the bird, / that made the breeze to blow! / Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay, / That made the breeze to blow!” This suggests to me that, the mariner is trying to express his sin that he has committed and how bad it was, as it was the Albatross that saved them from the ice. In the next stanza, it repeats, “For all averred, I had killed the bird” This emphasises my point in saying that the Mariner repeats the lines in which he feels most strongly about. Here he repeats about killing the Albatross after it rescued them. He feels guilty for killing one of God’s creatures.
With what I think about Plath discussing her life, as she repeats words, I feel this is expressing how she is nervous about life. Because she comments on the dangers of opening the box, then I think she is nervous about death, “I ordered this, this clean wood box / it is dark dark” The repetition could be seen as a sort of stuttering, since she is nervous.
We know that the Arrival of the Bee Box is written from a personal experience; as Plath uses the first person pronoun to write her poem. She shows her insecurities when doing this though. She asks herself questions, such as, “I wonder if they would miss me”. This explains to me that if she opens the box, i.e. dies, then she is questioning whether she is important to anyone enough to be remembered. Also relating to the point about being a personal experience, she says, “I have to live with it over night”. This shows me that her insecurities build up and as she questions herself more about opening the box and whatever she decides she will have to live with.
In comparison, Coleridge uses the third person pronoun to tell his story, “It is an Ancient Mariner/He holds him with his skinny hand”. He tries to engage his readers by giving descriptions of the mariner, and therefore giving a strong imagery in the mind. By using the third person, I feel he is still trying to express the poem as though it is still a personal experience and show his beliefs, but he is trying to not involve himself into the poem, he is seen as strictly a narrator.
Plath uses light punctuation when writing her poem. I think this is to show how she is feeling very weary, and unsure about everything that is going on. She doesn’t use exclamation marks, therefore showing she isn’t shouting, or trying to express anything strongly. She is merely trying to tell people about how she feels, rather than trying to prove a point or such, in which you would use strong punctuation to do. Coleridge, on the other hand, uses strong punctuation when he uses speech, in order to try to express the point that it is sinful to kill one of God’s precious creatures.
Plath successfully shows her feelings to the reader, but Coleridge uses an extra device in order to show how he is feeling, pathetic fallacy. By the use of the weather he shows when he is happy and when he is sad. “Glimmered the white moon – shine” this gives me the feeling that something scary is about to happen, as the moon light shines down on the people. This is the point in the play in which the albatross is shot, therefore showing that something bad happened. After the albatross is dead, the mariner feels guilty and cursed.. “The stars were dim, and thick the night” this shows me that the mariner feels guilty of killing the bird and his life is now dark because of the sin he has created. Therefore the use of pathetic fallacy creates the scene for what Coleridge is trying to express, as well as a more vivid picture in one’s head.
Both poets are successful in showing their feelings through a number of literacy devices, and through the forms of the poems.
