Repetition in poetry is used for emphasis. These lines
appear at the beginning of the poem. The Wedding Guest has been detained by the ancient
mariner for reasons he does not yet understand. The mariner's tale begins, and the
Wedding Guest can simultaneously hear the music and envision the guests moving into the
hall.
The key to the line you mention is that the Wedding
Guest is extremely frustrated. He is going to be late to the wedding or miss it
altogether because of this mariner. Why doesn't he just leave? He cannot. Consider
the following stanza:
He holds him with his glittering eye -
The Wedding-Guest stood still,
And listens like a three years'
child:
The Mariner hath his
will.
For some reason the
Wedding Guest is compelled to remain and hear the story. Thus, the beating of his
breast, his frustration at being powerless is emphasized in the lines you
mention.
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