In the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge I have a doubt please solve it?

Question

In this poem in Part I There is a verse where it is written- "And through the drifts the snowny clifts Did send a dismal sheen;"
Can anybody help me regarding this line.

Answer 1

Hi again...

Here the mariner is surrounded by ice and nothing else but ice. There is no sign of living. Hence, even though the atmosphere is bright it is sad. "Dismal Sheen" is a sort of gloomy brightness"

Cheers!!!

Answer 2

In these particular lines Coleridge wants to stress upn the gloominess of the situation. He says that the weather is bad and the cliffs which surround them seem to be making things worse as they reflect the light only to make the whole atmosphere gloomier than ever. Dismal sheen is the oxymoron here which is used to heighten the awareness of the whole scene. The sheen meaning the light or the glow is dismal, is gloomy ,is dull and not at all welcoming...rather it seems to create a sense of foreboding.

Answer 3

And through the drifts the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal sheen :
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken--
The ice was all between.

The mariner is talking about the emptiness...how the light was not warm, but cold and depressing, coming through the cliffs of ice, making a feeling of foreboding came over the crew; the dismal light is interpeted by many as being fog...that kind of cold, clammy, chilly, dead air fog...the one you can see through, but it makes everything look unreal and deadens sound.

Answer 4

My estimation would be the reflection of light off of the cliffs.