How we cite our quotes: (Section.Stanza)
Quote #1
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. (I.14)
The ship is driven down to the Antarctic, and the poem suggests that this still might be early enough in the Age of Exploration that these are uncharted waters. Actually, Coleridge had never been to the Antarctic, he could only read the few accounts that were available describing it. He just knew there was a lot of ice and no people.
Quote #2
Down dropped the breeze, the sails dropped down,
'Twas sad as sad could be;
And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea! (II.26)
When the sailors lose the wind that would carry them home, there's nothing they can do but wait it out. Speaking will only make them more depressed. This isn't just unusual weather: they are being punished for killing the albatross.
Quote #3
I closed my lids, and kept them close,
Till the balls like pulses beat;
For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky
Lay like a load on my weary eye,
And the dead were at my feet. (IV.58)
When the sailors are killed by Death, the Mariner remains in the state of Life-in-Death. The world is so large around him, but it all feels like dead weight pushing down on his eyes. He is incredibly lonely, and the lingering curse on the eyes of the crew makes him want to just shut out the world.
Quote #4
They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose,
Nor spake, nor moved their eyes;
It had been strange, even in a dream,
To have seen those dead men rise.
The helmsman steered, the ship moved on;
Yet never a breeze up-blew;
The mariners all 'gan work the ropes,
Where they were wont to do;
They raised their limbs like lifeless tools –
We were a ghastly crew. (V.76-77)
The bodies of the crew come back to life, but their souls are long gone, so the Mariner can't communicate with them. However, he does get to enjoy some angelic singing later on, so he's less isolated in that sense.
Quote #5
O wedding-guest! This soul hath been
Alone on a wide wide sea:
So lonely 'twas, that God himself
Scarce seemed there to be.
Aha! This being literature, you just knew there had to be some big metaphor lurking somewhere. And here it is: the spiritual condition of the Wedding Guest parallels the physical (and spiritual) condition of the Mariner when he was separated from both God and humanity out on the ocean, with only the curses of the other sailors to keep him company. Not having had a chance to get to know the Wedding Guest very well (because someone has been gabbing for the entire poem), we have no way to verify this statement.