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About this quote

What does it mean?
The mariner drinks his own blood when he sees a ship approaching.
In plain terms
The man bites his arm and drinks blood while shouting.
What can you take from it?
Extreme need leads to desperate acts.

Where it applies

  • critical moments
  • self-harm

Putting it to work

  • showing extreme stress

Questions to consider

  • How far would you go to save yourself?

Another view

The act is gruesome and might distract from the story.

More from Samuel Taylor Coleridge

  1. About, about, in reel and rout The death fires danced at night.

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  2. Her lips were red, her looks were free, Her locks were yellow as gold: Her skin was as white as leprosy, The Night-Mare Life-in-Death was she, Who thicks man's…

    Permalink to quote #49
  3. The very deep did rot: O Christ! That ever this should be! Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs Upon the slimy sea.

    Permalink to quote #46

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