What is Mr. Coleridge talking about here? What kind of water? How do you know? Why would Mr. Coleridge care about salt water? Hint . . . when was this written? What was the major mode of transportation in the 1800s if you wanted to get from England to the ‘New World’? What do you think he means by… “And all the boards did shrink”?

, Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) uses the phrase "Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink". The phrase is about how people can be surrounded by something but unable to benefit from it.

In the poem, Coleridge uses water to symbolize the power of nature in the natural and spiritual world. The line "Water, water everywhere / And all the boards did shrink" uses repetition to emphasize the irony that the characters are surrounded by water but can't drink it. The boards are shrinking because the weather is hot, causing leaks in the boat.

The poem also notes that people who drink salt water while adrift at sea are only hastening their own deaths.

Water Part II: Water, Water

Explanation: