Is there alliteration in this excerpt from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"? "The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, the furrow followed...

Yes, there is a good deal of alliteration in this passage from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Alliteration means to use the same consonant at the beginning of a word more than once in a poetic line. Here the letter "f" is used repeatedly: fair, foam, flew, furrow, followed, free and first. Coleridge also uses the letter "b:" "breeze," "blew" and "burst," and the letter "s:" "silent" and "sea." The motion of the "b" and "f" words, such as flew, blew and burst, contrasts with the stillness of the "s" words. 

Coleridge was trying to capture the flavor of a ballad from an earlier time in this fanciful tale of the supernatural. Medieval poets often relied on alliteration, so Coleridge is claiming an identity with them in this poem. The alliteration also underscores the excitement of the sailors at being the first humans ever to enter that sea.