Monday, June 15, 2009

From "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," give an example of parallelism.

Parallelism is a literary device in which corresponding parts of a sentence use similar grammatical structure or wording. Poetry generally uses a great deal of parallelism because it is very pleasing to the ear and creates a lyrical sound. Parallelism produces a balance between parts of a sentence or a balance between sentences, and that balance is very satisfying and creates a pleasant rhythm. Parallelism can also be used for emphasis or persuasion because it is a type of repetition. Samuel Taylor Coleridge used parallelism extensively in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."


In lines 58 - 62, parallelism is evident:



The ice was all between. 


The ice was here, the ice was there,


The ice was all around:


It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,


Like noises in a swound!



Four clauses in a row begin with "the ice was." Those clauses are parallel. The line with four verbs separated by "and" is also parallel construction. 


Here is another famous stanza that uses parallelism:



Day after day, day after day,


We stuck, nor breath nor motion;


As idle as a painted ship


Upon a painted ocean.



The phrase "day after day" is parallel within itself, and repeating it makes a second parallelism. "Nor breath nor motion" is also parallel within itself. "As idle as" is parallel, with the "as" balanced on either side of the "idle." Then the parallelism continues with "as a painted ship" balancing with "upon a painted ocean." 


The very next stanza, also famous, continues to use parallelism:



Water, water, every where,


And all the boards did shrink.


Water, water, every where,


Nor any drop to drink. 



The first and the third lines of this stanza are parallel because they repeat each other. The second and fourth lines are parallel to each other: "and" matches "nor," "all" balances with "any," and the noun/verb constructions of the remainder of each line balance with each other ("boards did shrink"/"drop to drink"). 


One could continue moving through the poem to find multiple examples of parallelism. In fact, Coleridge's masterful use of parallelism is one technique that gives this poem its beautiful lyrical quality and has made it a beloved masterpiece for over two centuries.

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