"The ship was cheered, the harbor cleared, Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the lighthouse top. 25 The Sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he! And he shone bright, and on the right Higher and higher every day, 30 Till over the mast at noon The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, The bride hath paced into the hall, 35 Nodding their heads before her goes The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, And thus spake on that ancient man, 40 The bright-eyed Mariner. "And now the Storm-blast came, and he He struck with his o'ertaking wings, 45 With sloping masts and dipping prow, The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, 50 And southward aye we fled. And now there came both mist and snow, And ice, mast-high, came floating by, 55 And through the drifts the snowy clifts Did send a dismal sheen : Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken- The ice was here, the ice was there, 60 The ice was all around: It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound!1 21-30. The Mariner tells how the ship sailed southward with a good wind and fair weather, till it reached the Line. 31-40. The Wedding-Guest heareth the bridal music; but the Mariner continueth his tale. 41-50. The ship driven by a storm toward the south pole. 51-62. The land of ice, and of fearful sounds, where no living thing was to be seen. 1 swoon; dream At length did cross an Albatross, 65 As if it had been a Christian soul, It ate the food it ne'er had eat, The ice did split with a thunder-fit; 70 The helmsman steered us through! And a good south wind sprung up behind; And every day, for food or play, 75 In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, It perched for vespers nine; Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white, Glimmered the white moon-shine." "God save thee, ancient Mariner! 80 From the fiends, that plague thee thus!— Why look'st thou so?"-"With my crossbow I shot the Albatross!"' PART II "The Sun now rose upon the right: Out of the sea came he, 85 Still hid in mist, and on the left And the good south wind still blew behind, Nor any day for food or play 90 Came to the mariners' hollo! And I had done a hellish thing, And it would work 'em woe: For all averred, I had killed the bird 95 Ah wretch!' said they, 'the bird to slay, That made the breeze to blow!' Nor dim nor red, like God's own head, Then all averred, I had killed the bird 100 That brought the fog and mist. ''Twas right,' said they, 'such birds to slay, That bring the fog and mist.' 63-70. Till a great sea-bird, called the Albatross, came through the snow-fog, and was received with great joy and hospitality. 71-78. And lo! the Albatross proveth a bird of good omen, and followeth the ship as it returned northward through fog and floating ice. 79-82. The ancient Mariner inhospitably killeth the pious bird of good omen. 83-96. His shipmates cry out against the ancient Mariner, for killing the bird of good luck. 97-102. But when the fog cleared off, they justify the same, and thus make themselves accomplices in the crime. The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, 105 We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea. Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down, 'Twas sad as sad could be; And we did speak only to break 110 The silence of the sea! All in a hot and copper sky, Right up above the mast did stand, 115 Day after day, day after day, Water, water, everywhere, 120 And all the boards did shrink; The very deep did rot: O Christ! 125 Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs About, about, in reel and rout And some in dreams assuréd were 135 And every tongue, through utter drought, We could not speak, no more than if 103-106. The fair breeze continues; the ship 175 enters the Pacific Ocean, and sails northward, even till it reaches the Line. 107-118. The ship hath been suddenly becalmed. 119-130. And the Albatross begins to be avenged. 131-138. A Spirit had followed them; one of the invisible inhabitants of this planet, neither departed souls nor angels; concerning whom the learned Jew, Josephus, and the Platonic Constantinopolitan, Michael Psellus, may be consulted. They are very numerous, and there is no climate or element without one or more. 1 phosphorescent lights (supposed to forebode death) The western wave was all a-flame. 139-142. The shipmates, in their sore distress, would fain throw the whole guilt on the ancient Mariner; in sign whereof they hang the dead sea-bird round his neck. 143-156. The ancient Mariner beholdeth a sign in the element afar off. 157-163. At its nearer approach, it seemeth him to be a ship; and at a dear ransom he freeth his speech from the bonds of thirst. And straight the Sun was flecked with bars, (Heaven's Mother send us grace!) With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, As if through a dungeon-grate he peered 220 The souls did from their bodies fly,180 With broad and burning face. Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud) Are those her sails that glance in the Sun, They fled to bliss or woe! PART IV "I fear thee, ancient Mariner! 185 Are those her ribs through which the Sun 225 I fear thy skinny hand! 190 Her lips were red, her looks were free, 195 The naked hulk alongside came, And the twain were casting dice; The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out: 200 At one stride comes the dark; With far-heard whisper, o'er the sea, We listened and looked sideways up! 205 My life-blood seemed to sip! The stars were dim, and thick the night, From the sails the dew did drip- 210 The hornéd Moon, with one bright star One after one, by the star-dogged Moon, Each turned his face with a ghastly pang, 215 And cursed me with his eye. Four times fifty living men, 177-186. It seemeth him but the skeleton of a ship. And its ribs are seen as bars on the face of the setting Sun. And thou art long, and lank, and brown, I fear thee and thy glittering eye, Alone, alone, all, all alone, And never a saint took pity on 235 My soul in agony. The many men, so beautiful! And a thousand thousand slimy things 240 I looked upon the rotting sea, I looked to heaven, and tried to pray; I closed my lids, and kept them close, 250 For the sky and the sea, and the sea and Lay like a load on my weary eye, The cold sweat melted from their limbs, 255 The look with which they looked on me 187-194. The Spectre Woman and her Death- 260 mate, and no other on board the skeleton-ship. Like vessel, like crew! 195-198. Death and Life-in-Death have diced for the ship's crew, and she (the latter) winneth the ancient Mariner. 199-202. No twilight within the courts of the Sun. 203-223. At the rising of the Moon, one after another his shipmates drop down dead. But Life-in-Death begins her work on the ancient Mariner. 1 fine spider-webs An orphan's curse would drag to hell But oh! more horrible than that 224-235. The Wedding-Guest feareth that a Spirit is talking to him: but the ancient Mariner assureth him of his bodily life, and proceedeth to relate his horrible penance. 236-252. He despiseth the creatures of the calm, and envieth that they should live, and so many lie dead. 253-262. But the curse liveth for him in the eye of the dead men. The moving moon went up the sky, And nowhere did abide: 265 Softly she was going up, And a star or two beside Her beams bemocked the sultry main, But where the ship's huge shadow lay, Beyond the shadow of the ship, Within the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire: Blue, glossy green, and velvet black 280 They coiled and swam; and every track O happy living things! no tongue A spring of love gushed from my heart, 285 And I blessed them unaware: Sure my kind saint took pity on me, The self-same moment I could pray; PART V "Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing, Beloved from pole to pole! To Mary Queen the praise be given! 295 She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven, The silly1 buckets on the deck, I dreamt that they were filled with dew; 300 And when I awoke, it rained. 263-271. In his loneliness and fixedness he yearneth towards the journeying Moon, and the stars that still sojourn, yet still move onward; and everywhere the blue sky belongs to them, and is their appointed rest, and their native 340 country and their own natural homes, which they enter unannounced as lords that are certainly expected, and yet there is a silent joy at their arrival. 272-281. By the light of the Moon he beholdeth God's creatures of the great calm. 282-283. Their beauty and their happiness. 284-287. He blesseth them in his heart. 288-291. The spell begins to break. 292-308. By grace of the holy Mother, the ancient Mariner is refreshed with rain. 'innocent (or, possibly, useless) The mariners all 'gan work the ropes, They raised their limbs like lifeless tools- 309-326. He heareth sounds and seeth strange sights and commotions in the sky and the element. 327-376. The bodies of the ship's crew are inspired, and the ship moves on; but not by the souls of the men, nor by demons of earth or middle air, but by a blessed troop of angelic spirits, sent down by the invocation of the guardian saint. 1 bright The body of my brother's son Stood by me, knee to knee: The body and I pulled at one rope, But he said nought to me." 345 I fear thee, ancient Mariner!" "Be calm, thou Wedding-Guest! 'Twas not those souls that fled in pain, Which to their corses came again, But a troop of spirits blest: With a short uneasy motion- Then like a pawing horse let go, 390 She made a sudden bound: It flung the blood into my head, And I fell down in a swound. How long in that same fit I lay, I have not to declare; 350 For when it dawned-they dropped their 395 But ere my living life returned, |