Oxymora are figures of speech which involve some kind of contradiction in terms. In Part II, the speaker says "Water, water, every where, / Nor any drop to drink." This might qualify as an oxymoron because it seems contradictory to be surrounded by water while being unable to drink any of it. However, this is easily explained away by the fact that it is saltwater and is therefore unfit to drink.
The most obvious example of an oxymoron in this poem occurs in Part III. The mariner and his crew encounter the character "LIFE-IN-DEATH." She (Life-in-Death) and Death are rolling dice, gambling over the fates of the men on the ship. Death wins all of the crew and they are killed. But "Life-in-Death" wins the mariner. She decides to put a curse on him.
Life and death are clearly contradictory terms. This combination fits the fate of the mariner. He is cursed to remain alone (alive) with his ship full of dead men. He is alive but in a world of death.
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