Q 01/05

In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the old sailor stops a man who is on his way to what?

A) A wedding

B) A funeral

C) A christening

D) A hanging

Answer · why

A) A wedding

A wedding is where the listener is headed, and as next of kin to the groom he can already hear the feast begin. He never gets inside: at the end he tu...

Q 02/05

Which weapon does the Ancient Mariner use to kill the albatross that had been following his ship?

A) A fowling gun

B) A harpoon

C) A crossbow

D) A longbow

Answer · why

C) A crossbow

A crossbow is the weapon, and the killing arrives as a blunt two-line confession at the very end of the poem's first part. His listener has just asked...

Q 03/05

Coleridge's publisher said most buyers of the Ancient Mariner volume were sailors who mistook it for what?

A) A tide almanac

B) A naval songbook

C) A navigation manual

D) A ship's prayer book

Answer · why

B) A naval songbook

A naval songbook is what the sailors thought they were buying, the publisher told Coleridge. Critics were less keen: early reviewers found the poem ob...

Q 04/05

Thanks to The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, having an albatross around your neck means carrying what?

A) A lucky charm

B) A family secret

C) A hidden talent

D) A heavy burden

Answer · why

D) A heavy burden

A heavy burden of guilt that blocks success is the dictionary sense of the idiom. In the poem the angry crew hang the dead bird on the Mariner once th...

Q 05/05

What game do Death and a ghostly pale woman play aboard the skeleton ship for the Ancient Mariner's crew?

A) Chess

B) Cards

C) Draughts

D) Dice

Answer · why

D) Dice

Dice settle it: Death wins the two hundred sailors, who fall dead one by one, while the woman wins the Mariner and whistles three times in triumph.