Here several Romantic ideas are thrust upon the reader at once: first is the allusion to Coleridge and seafaring; the second, to regions that are "marvelous" and "mysterious;" and third, a quest for personal and factual knowledge. Also, a Romantic notion is that Walton is so open to finding a friend (showing his feelings).
Weather slows the beginning of the trip, but Walton reassures his sister that he will use caution and prudence. He alludes to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. This one poem helped launch the Romantic period and gives us a story of a man banished for killing an albatross while at sea. The poem is an extended allegory symbolizing the death of imagination in man and an embarkment on a quest for spiritual and intellectual knowledge. Coleridge, a Romantic writer, was a friend of Mary's father.
The discussion about his educational background seems to be a continuation from his first letter. He regrets, "Now I am twenty-eight and am in reality more illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen."
He mentions his desire for a companion, by saying, "I greatly need a friend who would have sense enough not to despise me as romantic, and affection enough for me to endeavour to regulate my mind."
