The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a narrative-based medieval ballad. It has fairly regular quatrains,and the meter alternates between

iambic tetrametrer (with 4 feet per line) and iambic trimeter (with three feet per line).

Example :

          1                2               3             4

"The SUN | now ROSE | upON | the RIGHT:

      1             2               3

Out OF | the SEA | came HE,

       1              2              3              4

Still HID | in MIST, | and ON | the LEFT

          1                 2            3

Went DOWN |  inTO | the SEA.

There are also short sentences in it such as ;

About ,about,in reel and rout

The death-fires danced at night;

The water,like a witch’s oils,

Burnt green,and blue and white.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge mostly used repetition of words  and phrases to create the effect of “casting a spell”.

Examples :

Part I

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!

The ship was cheered,the harbour cleared,

Merrily did we drop

BELOW,the kirk,BELOW the hill,

BELOW the lighthouse top.

Part II

DAY AFTER DAY,DAY AFTER DAY,

We stuck,nor breath nor motion ;

As idle as painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

WATER,WATER,EVERY WHERE,

And all the boards did shrink;

WATER,WATER,EVERY WHERE,

Nor any drop to drink.

Part IV :

ALONE,ALONE,ALL,ALL ALONE ,

ALONE on a WIDE WIDE sea!

And never a saint took pity on

My soul in agony.

Part VII :

FAREWELL,FAREWELL!but this I tell

To thee,thou Wedding-Guest!

He prayeth well, who loveth well

Both man and bird and beast.

YEŞİM ATASOY