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
(Lines 55-58)
The mariner and his crew sailed across the ocean to finally reach an area that was surrounded by snow and ice. Very cold currents of air (drifts) were blowing all around. An image of movement due to sailing is created in line 55. As they were moving, the cliffs (clifts) that were covered with snow emerge. They were the icebergs which are very dangerous because they floated from near the ship. All these aspects combined together made the visibility very poor which made it very difficult to navigate the ship.
The lack of sunlight and the dimness of the cold made the environment feel very dismal and gloomy. The mild brightness of the ice cliffs was the only source of light here. The light was so dim that neither men nor animals could be recognized (ken). Only ice could be seen all around.
There is a psychological parallel in these lines. The cold currents refer to the evidently cold attitude of the other sailors who are anguished at the killing of the albatross. There is a sense of despair highlighted through the phrase dismal sheen, which is an oxymoron. It indicates the slight tinge of optimism depicting that even in the midst of hopelessness and despair, there might be a slight possibility of hope and salvation.
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken
The ice was all between
Indicate that hatred makes us lose our discretionary powers and we are unable to distinguish between right and wrong. The ice is not merely present in the physical form, it has evidently entered the hearts of men who have become callous towards one another. In the face of death, it is a matter of self survival first.
Poetic Devices
1.dismal sheen - oxymoron
dismal -- Gloomy and bleak.
sheen -- shining, radiant
2. drifts and clifts
men and ken
- assonance/internal rhyme (repeats the same vowel sounds within nearby words)
3. Shapes and sheen - Alliteration (same starting sound)
Lines 55-58 of 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' are as follows:
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 who holds the wedding guest spellbound with his story of supernatural events describes the 'mast-high' ice that comes floating and is reflected as a dismal sheen. The mood is one of foreboding as the narrator says that he could no longer understand the shape of men and animals and everything around was ice. The overwhelming and supernatural power of nature that is seen in the entire poem is expressed here as the ice dominates and subdues human understanding.
The stanza is in alternating tetrameter and trimeter with the iamb as the metric foot.Alternating tetrameter and trimeter is a classic metric style of ballads.
Besides the dissonant repetition of 'd' in the first and second lines (drift...did....dismal), transferred epithets such as snowy cliffs and dismal sheen and personification (send) successfully give natural objects human attributes. This adds to the sense of nature's overpowering presence which results in the loss of the human faculty of understanding.
As in the surrounding stanzas of "The Rime," lines 55-58 are describing the ice. The narrator explains that, as the boat is surrounded by snow and ice, it is impossible to see anything else. He can make out neither "shapes of men nor beast." All he sees is snow and the cliffs' "dismal" reflection. This isn't Queen Elsa's frozen wonderland. It's a dark, dangerous ice trap.
In terms of literary devices, line 55 features assonance, as well as internal rhyme. Assonance repeats the same vowel sounds within nearby words, as with the words "drifts" and "clifts," which repeat the short 'i' sound. Likewise, this pairing also functions as an internal rhyme, as the words rhyme within the same line. (There's another internal rhyme, "men" and "ken," in line 57.)
Line 56 employs consonance (repetition of consonants) in the phrase "did send a dismal," which repeats the 'd' and 's' sounds. It also continues the assonance with the short 'i' sounds. Alliteration (same starting sound) stretches between lines 56 and 57, with "shapes" and "sheen." Finally, lines 56 and 58 conclude with a traditional end rhyme.
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