abrupt appearance is sustained by an idiosyncratic use of tense (Widdowson. 1992, 40). For instance, the Mariner 'holds' the wedding-guest with his 'skinny hand' in the present tense, but releases it in the past tense ('...his hands dropt he.'); only to hold him again, this time with his 'glittering eye', in the present (Widdowson. 1992, 41).

The point of poetry

Widdowson notices that when the content of poetry is summarised, it often refers to very general

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