Sit blithe and happy; bees that soar for bloom, In sundry moods, 'twas pastime to be bound Within the Sonnet's scanty plot of ground; Pleased if some souls (for such there needs must be) Who have felt the weight of too much liberty, Should find brief solace there, as I have found. II SCORN not the Sonnet; Critic, you have frown'd, Shakespeare unlock'd his heart; the melody It cheer'd mild Spenser, call'd from Faery-land To struggle through dark ways; and, when a damp Fell round the path of Milton, in his hand The Thing became a trumpet; whence he blew Soul-animating strains-alas, too few! 414 WILLIAM LISLE BOWLES DOVER CLIFFS ON these white cliffs, that calm above the flood Sailed slow, has thought of all his heart must leave To-morrow; of the friends he loved most dear; 415 SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER IN SEVEN PARTS ARGUMENT.-How a Ship having passed the Line was driven by storms to the cold Country towards the South Pole; and how from thence she made her course to the tropical Latitude of the Great Pacific Ocean; and of the strange things that befell; and in what manner the Ancyent Marinere came back to his own Country. [1798.] An ancient meeteth three Gallants bidden to a wedding-feast, and detaineth one PART I It is an ancient Mariner, And he stoppeth one of three. "By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, "The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide, The guests are met, the feast is set: May'st hear the merry din." He holds him with his skinny hand, "There was a ship," quoth he. "Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!" The Wedding. Eftsoons his hand dropt he. Guest is spell bound by the He holds him with his glittering eye— eye of the old seafaring man, The Wedding-Guest stood still, and con strained to hear his tale And listens like a three years' child: The Mariner hath his will. The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone: He cannot choose but hear; And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner. "The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared, "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, The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, The bride hat paced into the hall, Nodding their heads before her goes The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, : And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner. "And now the Storm-blast came, and he He struck with his o'ertaking wings, "With sloping masts and dipping prow, The Mariner tells how the ship sailed southward with a good wind and fair weather, till it reached the line The WeddingGuest heareth the bridal music; but the Mariner continueth his tale The ship driven by a storm toward the south pole The land of ice, and of fearful sounds where no liv ing thing was to be seen Till a great sea-bird, called the Albatross, came through And forward bends his head, The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, "And now there came both mist and snow, And ice, mast-high, came floating by, 66 And through the drifts the snowy clifts Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken- "The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, At length did cross an Albatross, As if it had been a Christian soul, the snow-fog, We hailed it in God's name. and was re ceived with great joy and hospitality And lo! the proveth a bird of good omen, and followeth the ship as it returned northward through fog "It ate the food it ne'er had eat, And a good south wind sprung up behind; And every day, for food or play, "In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, and floating ice It perched for vespers nine; Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white, From the fiends, that plague thee thus !— The ancient Mariner inhospitably killeth the pious bird of good omen PART II The Sun now rose upon the right: Out of the sea came he, Still hid in mist, and on the left Went down into the sea. And the good south wind still blew behind, Nor any day for food or play And I had done a hellish thing, For all averred, I had killed the bird Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay, Nor dim nor red, like God's own head, Then all averred, I had killed the bird 'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay, The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea. His shipmates cry out against the ancient Mariner, for killing the bird of good luck But when the The fair breeze Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down, the Line 'Twas sad as sad could be; And we did speak only to break The silence of the sea! The ship hath been suddenly becalmed {H} HC XLI |