ed mouthward

The ancient mari.

omen.

ancient mariner,

themselves ac.

The mariner fello The sun came up upon the left, In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
how the ship sail.
Out of the sea came he!

It perch'd for vespers nine:
with a good wind And he shone bright, and on the right Whiles all the night, through fog-
and fair weather, Went down into the sea.

smoke white,
till it reached the
Jine.

Glimmer'd the white moonshine.
Higher and higher every day,
Till over the mast at noon

“God save thee, ancient mariner!
The wedding-guest here beat his From the fiends that plague thee thus! killeth the piova
breast,

Why look'st thou so?'”— With my bird of good For he heard the loud bassoon.

cross-bow

I shot the ALBATROSS. The wedding. The bride hath paced into the hall, guest heareth the Red as a rose is she ;

PART II.
bridal music; but
the mariner coo- Nodding their heads before her goes The sun now rose upon the right:
tidueth bis tale.
The merry minstrelsy.

Out of the sea came he,
The wedding-guest he beat his breast, Went down into the sea.

Still hid in mist, and on the left
Yet he cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man, And the good south wind still blew
The bright-eyed mariner :-

behind,
The ship drawn And now the storm-Blast came, and But no sweet bird did follow,
by a storm toward

Nor any day for food or play
he
the south pole.

Came to the mariner's hollo !
Was tyrannous and strong;
He struck with his o’ertaking wings, And I had done an hellish thing,

His shipmate cry

out against the And chased us south along.

And it would work 'em wo:
With sloping masts and dripping prow, That made the breeze to blow.
For all averr’d, I had kill'd the bird for killing the bird

of good-luck. As who pursued with yell and blow

Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,
Still treads the shadow of his foe,

That made the breeze to blow !
And forward bends his head,
The ship drove fast, load roar'd the Nor dim nor red, like God's own head, But when the fog
blast,

cleared off, they The glorious sun uprist:

justify the same, And southward aye we fled.

Then all averr'a, I had kill'd the bird and thus make And now there came both mist and That brought the fog and mist.

complices in the snow,

'Twas right, said they, such birds to crime.
And it grew wondrous cold;

slay
And ice, mast-high, came floating by, That bring the fog and mist.
As green as emerald.
The fair breeze blew, the white foam The fair breeze

continues; the The land of ice, And through the drifts the snowy

few,

ship enters the and of learful clists The furrow follow'd free;

Pacific Ocean, and Bounds, where no living thing was Did send a dismal sheen :

We were the first that ever burst

Into that silent sea.
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we
ken-

Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt The ship, hath
The ice was all between.

been suddenly down,

becalmed. The ice was here, the ice was there,

'Twas sad as sad could be ;
The ice was all around:

And we did speak only to break
It crack'd and growl’d, and roar'd and The silence of the sea !
howl'd,

All in a hot and copper sky,
Like noises in a swound!

The bloody sun, at noon,
Till a great sea. At length did cross an albatross:

Right up above the mast did stand, bird, called the Thorough the fog it came ;

No bigger than the moon. albatross, through the snow As if it had been a Christian soul, Day after day, day after day, fog, and was received with great We hail'd it in God's name.

We stuck, nor breath nor motion; joy and hospita

As idle as a painted ship
lity.
It ate the food it ne'er had eat,

Upon a painted ocean.
And round and round it few.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
Water, water, everywhere,

And the albatross

begins to be The helmsman steer'd us through! And all the boards did shrink :

avenged.

Water, water, everywhere, And lo! the alba. And a good south wind sprung up

Nor any drop to drink. tross proveth a bird of good behind;

The very deep did rot: 0 Christ! omen, and follow. The albatross did follow, eth the ship as it

That ever this should be ! returned north And every day, for food or play, Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs ward through fog Came to the mariner's hollo ! and floating ice.

Upon the slimy sea.

sails northward even till it reach. es the line

to be seen.

came

more.

sun

riner beboldeth a

About, about, in reel and rout When that strange shape drove sud-
The death-fires danced at night;

denly
The water, like a witch's oils, Betwixt us and the sun.
Burnt green, and blue, and white.
And straight the sun was fleck'd with It seemeth bim

but the skeleton A spirit had fol. And some in dreams assured were

bars,

of a ship. lowed them; one of the spirit that plagued us so ;

(Heaven's mother send us grace !) habitants of this Nine fathom deep he had follow'd us As if through a dungeon-grate he planet,-peitber From the land of mist and snow.

peer'd
departed souls
nor angels; concerning whom the learned Jew, Josephus, and the With broad and burning face.
Platonic Constantinopolitan, Michael Psellus, may be consulted. They
are very numerous, and there is no climate or element without one or Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat

loud,)
And every tongue, through utter How fast she nears and rears!
drought,

Are those her sails that glance in the
Was wither'd at the root;

sun,
We could not speak, no more than if Like restless gossamers ?
We had been choked with soot.
Are those her ribs through which the Add its ribs are

seen as bars on The shipmates, in Ah! well-a-day! what evil looks

the face of the their sore distress Had I from old and young! Did peer, as through a grate;

setting son. would sain throw the whole guilt on Instead of the cross, the albatross

And is that woman all her crew? the ancient mari. About my neck was hung.

Is that a Death, and are there two ? The spectrener;-in sign

Is Death that woman's mate?

woman and her whereof they

death-mate, and hang the dead

no other on board sea-bird round his PART III.

Her lips were red, her looks were the skeletoo-ship. Reck.

free,

Like veszel, like
THERE pass'd a weary time. Each

crew !
Her locks were yellow as gold:
throat
Was parch’d, and glazed each eye.

Her skin was as white as leprosy,
A weary time! a weary time!

The Night-Mare LIFE-IN-Death was
How glazed each weary eye,

she,

Who thicks man's blood with cold. The ancient ma. When looking westward, I beheld sign in the ele. A something in the sky.

The naked hulk alongside came,

Death and Life ment afar odl.

in. Death have

And the twain were casting dice;
At first it seem'd a little speck

diced for the
“ The game is done! I've won, I've ship's crew, and
And then it seem'd a mist;

she, the latter, It moved and moved, and took at last

wianeth the anQuoth she, and whistles thrice. cient mariner. A certain shape, I wist.

The sun's rim dips ; the stars rush No twilight A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!

within the courts

out:
And it still near'd and near'd:

At one stride comes the dark;
As if it dodged a water-sprite,

With far-heard whisper, o'er the sea
It plunged and tack'd and veer'd.

Off shot the spectre-bark.
At its nearer ap. With throats unslaked, with black
proach, it seein-

We listen'd and look'd sideways up! At the rising or lips baked,

the moon,

Fear at my heart, as at a cup, ship; and at a We could nor laugh nor wail; dear ransom be

My life-blood seem'd to sip! freeth his speech Through utter drought all dumb we

The stars were dim, and thick the from the bonds of stood;

night,
I bit my arm, I suck'd the blood,

The steersman's face by his lamp
And cried, A sail! a sail !

gleam'd white;
With throats unslaked, with black From the sails the dew did drip-
lips baked,

Till clomb above the eastern bar
Agape they heard me call;

The horned moon, with one bright
A flash of joy. Gramercy! they for joy did grin,

star
And all at once their breath drew in, Within the nether tip.
As they were drinking all.
One after one, by the star-dogg'd One after an-

other,
And horror fol. See! see! (I cried,) she tacks no moon,
lows; for can it be

more! a ship, that comes

Too quick for groan or sigh, onward without Hither to work us weal;

Each turn'd his face with a ghastly wind or tide? Without a breeze, without a tide,

pang,
She steadies with upright keel!

And cursed me with his eye.
The western wave was all a flame, Four times fifty living men,

His shipmates
The day was wellnigh done, (And I heard nor sigh nor groan,)

drop down dead. Almost upon the western wave With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, Rested the broad bright sun;

They dropp'd down one by one.

won!”

of the sun.

eth him to be a

thirst.

eth God's

crea

calm.

mariner assureth

eth to relate his

calm.

dead.

But Life-in-Death The souls did from their bodies fly,– Her beams bemock'd the sultry main,
begins her work
on the ancient They fled to bliss or wo!

Like April hoar-frost spread;
mariner. And every soul, it pass'd me by But where the ship's huge shadow lay,
Like the whizz of my CROSS-BOW! The charmed water burnt alway

A still and awful red.
PART IV.

Beyond the shadow of the ship By the light of the The wedding “ I FEAR thee, ancient mariner!

moon he behold.

I watch'd the water-snakes; guest feareth that a spirit is talking I fear thy skinny hand! (brown,

They moved in tracks of shining tures of the great to him ; And thou art long, and lank, and

white, As is the ribb'd sea-sand.*

And when they rear'd, the elfish light
“ I fear thee and thy glittering eye,

Fell off in hoary flakes.
And thy skinny hand so brown.”-
But the ancient Fear not, fear not, thou wedding- I watch'd their rich attire ;

Within the shadow of the ship
him of his bodily
guest!

Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, life, and proceed. This body dropt not down.

They coil'd and swam ;

and every horrible penance. Alone, alone, all, all alone,

track
Alone on a wide, wide sea!

Was a flash of golden fire.
And never a saint took pity on O happy living things! no tongue

Their beauty and
My soul in agony.

their happiness.

Their beauty might declare; Ho despiseth the The many men, so beautiful!

A spring of love gush'd from my creatures of the And they all dead did lie:

heart,

He blesseth them And a thousand thousand slimy things And I bless’d them unaware:

in his heart. Lived on; and so did I.

Sure my kind saint took pity on me,

And I bless'd them unaware. And envieth that I look'd upon the rotting sea, they should live, And drew my eyes away ;

The selssame moment I could pray ;

The spell begins and so many lie

to break.
I look'd upon the rotting deck, And from my neck so free
And there the dead men lay.

The albatross fell off, and sank

Like lead into the sea.
I look'd to heaven, and tried to pray ;
But or ever a prayer had gush'd,

PART V.
A wicked whisper came, and made
My heart as dry as dust.

O SLEEP! it is a gentle thing,

Beloved from pole to pole!
I closed my lids, and kept them close, To Mary queen the praise be given !
And the balls like pulses béat; She sent the gentle, sleep from heaven,
For the sky and the sea, and the sea That slid into my soul.

and the sky,
Lay like a load on my weary eye

The silly buckets on the deck, By grace of the
And the dead were at my feet.
That had so long remain’d,

holy mother, the

I dreamt that they were fill'd with is refreshed with But the curse liv. The cold sweat melted from their eth for him in the limbs,

And when I awoke it rain'd. eye of the dead

Nor rot nor reek did they : (me
The look with which they look”d on My lips were wet, my throat was cold,
Had never pass'd away.

My garments all were dank;

Sure I had drunken in my dreams,
An orphan's curse would drag to hell And still my body drank.
A spirit from on high ;
But O! more horrible than that I moved, and could not feel my limbs :
Is a curse in a dead man's eye!

I was so light-almost
Seven days, seven nights, I saw that I thought that I had died in sleep,

And was a blessed ghost.
curse,
And yet I could not die.

And soon I heard a roaring wind :
In his loneliness The moving moon went up the sky,

It did not come anear;

strange sights and and firedness be And nowhere did abide :

But with its sound it shook the sails, commotions in yeart

the sky and the the journeying Softly she was going up,

That were so thin and sere.

element. moon, and the And a star or two beside

The upper air burst into life!
journ, yet still move onward; and everywhere the blue sky belongs
to them, and is their appointed rest, and their native country and their And a hundred fire-flags sheen,
own patural homes, which they enter unannounced, as lords that are To and fro they were hurried about !
certainly expected, and yet there is a silent joy at their arrival.

And to and fro, and in and out,
* For the last two lines of this stanza, I am indebted to The wan stars danced between.
Mr. Wordsworth. It was on a delightful walk from Nether And the coming wind did roar more
Stowey to Dulverton, with him and his sister, in the

loud, autumn of 1797, that this poem was planned, and in part

And the sails did sigh like sedge ; composed.

ancient

mariner

dew;

rain.

mca.

He heareth
sounds and seeth

towards

stars that still 80

on ;

And the rain pour'd down from one It ceased; yet still the sails made on
black cloud;

A pleasant noise till noon,
The moon was at its edge.

A noise like of a hidden brook

In the leafy month of June,
The thick black cloud was cleft, and That to the sleeping woods all night
still

Singeth a quiet tune.
The moon was at its side :
Like waters shot from some high crag, Till noon we quietly sailed on,
The lightning fell with never a jag,

Yet never a breeze did breathe:
A river steep and wide.

Slowly and smoothly went the ship,

Moved onward from beneath. The bodies of the The loud wind never reach'd the

The lonesome

Under the keel nine fathom deep, ship's crew are

ship, inspired, and the

spirit from the From the land of mist and snow,

south pole carries ship moves on. Yet now the ship moved on !

The spirit slid : and it was he on the ship as far Beneath the lightning and the moon

as the line, in That made the ship to go.

obedience to the The dead men gave a groan. The sails at noon left off their tune, angelie troop, but

still requireth

vengeance.
They groan’d, they stirr'd, they all And the ship stood still also.
uprose,

The sun, right np above the mast,
Nor spake, nor moved their eyes;

Had fix'd her to the ocean :
It had been strange, e'en in a dream, But in a minute she’gan to stir,
To have seen those dead men rise.

With a short uneasy motion

Backwards and forwards half her
The helmsman steer'd, the ship moved

length
Yet never a breeze up blew ;

With a short uneasy motion.
The mariners all 'gan work the ropes, Then like a pawing horse let

et go,
Where they were wont to do; She made a sudden bound:
They raised their limbs like lifeless

It flung the blood into my head,
tools-

And I fell down in a swound.
We were a ghastly crew,

How long in that same fit I lay, The polar spirit's
The body of my brother's son

demoss, I have not to declare ;

the invisible inStood by me, knee to knee;

But ere my living life return'd, babitants of the The body and I pull'd at one rope,

element, take part I heard and in my soul discern'd

in his wrong; But he said naught to me. Two voices in the air.

and two of them

relate, one to the But not by the “ I fear thee, ancient mariner!”

other, that peo

“ Is it he ?” quoth one, “is this the ance long and souls of the men, por by daemons of Be calm, thou wedding-guest:

man?

beavy for the anearth or middle 'Twas not those souls that fied in

cient mariner

By Him who died on cross, air, but by a

hath been accord. blessed troop of pain, With his cruel bow he laid full low

ed to the polar angelic spirits, Which to their corses came again,

spirit, who

The harmless albatross. sent down by the But a troop of spirits blest:

turneth southinvocation of the

ward.
guardian saint.
For when it dawn'd—they dropp'd

“ The spirit who bideth by himself
In the land of mist and snow,

He loved the bird that loved the man
And cluster'd round the mast;

Who shot him with his bow."
Sweet sounds rose slowly through
their mouths,

The other was a softer voice,
And from their bodies pass'd.

As soft as honey-dew:
Around, around, flew each sweet Quoth he, “The man hath penance
sound,

done,
Then darted to the sun ;

And penance more will do."
Slowly the sounds came back again,
Now mix'd, now one by one.

PART VI.

fellow

re

their arms,

FIRST VOICE.

Sometimes, a-drooping from the sky,
I heard the skylark sing;

But tell me, tell me! speak again,
Sometimes all little birds that are,

Thy soft response renewing-
How they seem'd to fill the sea and What makes that ship drive on so fast ?

What is the ocean doing ?
air,
With their sweet jargoning!
And now 'twas like all instruments, Still as a slave before his lord,
Now like a lonely flute;

The ocean hath no blast;
And now it is an angel's song, His great bright eye most silently
That makes the heavens be mute. Up to the moon is cast,

SECOND VOICE.

If he may know which way to go ; We drifted o'er the harbour bar,
For she guides him smooth or grim. And I with sobs did pray-
See, brother, see! how graciously O let me be awake, my God!
She looketh down on him.

Or let me sleep alway.

been cast into a

SECOND VOICE.

rits leave the

FIRST. VOICE.

The harbour bay was clear as glass, The mariner hath But why drives on that ship so fast, So smoothly it was strewn! trance ; for the Without or wave or wind?

And on the bay the moonlight lay, angelic power

And the shadow of the moon. causeth the vessel to drive north. ward faster than the air is cut away before,

The rock shone bright, the kirk no human life could

less
endure.
And closes from behind.

That stands above the rock:
Fly, brother, Ay! more high, more The moonlight steep'd in silentness,
high!

The steady weathercock.
Or we shall be belated :
For slow and slow that ship will go,

And the bay was white with silent
When the mariner's trance is abated.

light,
Till rising from the same,

The angelic spi-
The supernatural I woke, and we were sailing on Full many shapes that shadows were, dead bodies
motion is retard.
As in a gentle weather:

In crimson colours came.
ed; the mariner
awakes, and his 'Twas night, calm night, the moon
pedance begins
was high;
A little distance from the prow

And appear in
The dead men stood together.
Those crimson shadows were:

their own forms

of light.
I turn'd my eyes upon the deck-
All stood together on the deck o, Christ! what saw I there!
For a charnel-dungeon fitter:
All fix'd on me their stony eyes,

Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat;
That in the moon did glitter. And, by the holy rood !

A man all light, a seraph-man,
The pang, the curse, with which they On every corse there stood.

died,
Had never pass'd away:

This seraph band, each waved his
I could not draw my eyes from theirs, hand:
Nor turn them up to pray.

It was a heavenly sight!
The curse is final. And now the spell was snapt: once Each one a lovely light;

They stood as signals to the land, ly expiated.

more
I view'd the ocean green,

This seraph band, each waved his
And look'd far forth, yet little saw

hand,
Of what had else been seen-

No voice did they impart

No voice; but O! the silence sank
Like one, that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,

Like music on my heart.
And having once turned round walks

But soon I heard the dash of oars,
on,
And turns no more his head;

I heard the pilot's cheer ;
Because he knows a frightful fiend

My head was turn'd perforce away,

And I saw a boat appear.
Doth close behind him tread.
But soon there breathed a wind on me, The pilot and the pilot's boy,
Nor sound nor motion made:

I heard them coming fast:
Its path was not upon the sea,

Dear Lord in heaven! it was a joy
In ripple or in shade.

The dead men could not blast.
It raised my hair, it fann'd my cheek I saw a third-I heard his voice:
Like a meadow gale of spring It is the hermit good!
It mingled strangely with my fears He singeth loud his godly hymns
Yet it felt like a welcoming.

That he makes in the wood.

He'll shrive my soul, he'll wash away
Swiftly, swiftly New the ship,

The albatross's blood.
Yet she sail'd softly, too:
Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze

PART VII.
On me alone it blew.

This hermit good lives in that wood The bermit of And the ancient 0! dream of joy! is this, indeed, Which slopes down to the sea. mariner behold eth his native The light-house top I see?

How loudly his sweet voice he rears! country. Is this the bill? is this the kirk? He loves to talk with mariners Is this my own countrée ?

That come from a far countrée.

the wood,