The mariner tells The sun came up upon the left, In mist or cloud, on ma: 0). shroud,
bow the ship sail.
ed southward 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,

T: Went down into the sea. till it reached the

smoke white, line.

Glimmer'd the white moonshine.
Higher and higher every day,
Till over the mast at noon-
“God save thee, ancient mariner! The ancient mari.

Der inhospitably
The wedding-guest here beat his | From the fiends that plague thee thus! killeth the pious
breast,
Why look'st thou so” - With my bird of good

omen.
For he heard the loud bassoon.

cross-bow

I shot the ALBATROSS. Che wedding. The bride hath paced into the hall, guest heareth the

PART II. oridal music : bat Red as a rose is she : the marider con. Nodding their heads before her goes The sun now rose upon the right: tidueth bis tale. The The merry minstrelsy.

Out of the sea came he,

Still hid in mist, and on the left
The wedding-guest he beat his breast,

Went down into the sea.
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,

But no sweet bird did follow, The ship draw. And now the storM-BLAST came, and 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 abipmates cry
And chased us south along.

out against the And it would work 'em wo:

ancient mariner,

For all averr'd, I had kill'd the bird for killing the bird With sloping masts and dripping prow,

of good-luck.

That made the breeze to blow.
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, loud 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 a verr'd, I had kill'd the bird and thus make

themselves acAnd 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 broezo

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

ship enters the and of fearful

The furrow follow'd free; clists

Pacific Ocean, and sounds, where no

mail, northward living thing was Did send a dismal sheen:

We were the first that ever burst

even till it reacb to be seen. Nor shapes of men nor beasts we

Into that silent sea.

88 the line. ken

Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt The ship bath 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 growld, and roard 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

No bigger than the moon. stbatross, came Thorough the fog it came; through the snow As if it had been a Christian soul, | Day after day, day after day, fog, and was re. We hail'd it in God's name.

We stuck, nor breath nor motion ; jov and hospita

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

Upon a painted ocean.
And round and round it flew.

And the albatrous
Water, water, everywhere,
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;

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

avenged,

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

Nor any drop to drink. trose 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 !

Upon the slimy sea. und foating ice.

Beck,

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 wbite.
And straight the sun was fleck'd with it seemeth biza

but the skeletoa A spirit bad 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 !) of the invisible inhabitants of this Nine fathom deep he had follow'd us As if through a dungeon-grate he planet, neither From the land of mist and snow.

peer'a 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 aro very numerous, and there is no climate or element without one or Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat

A more.

loud,)
And every tongue, through utter How fast she nears and nears!
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 And its ribs are

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

sun

the face of the their sore distress

Did peer, as through a grate;

setting sun. would fain throw Had I from old and young! the whole guilt on Instead of the cross, the albatross

And is that woman all her crew ? the ancient mari. ner;- in sign

Is that a Death, and are there two ? The spectreAbout my neck was hung.

womaa and her whereof they

Is Death that woman's mate?

death-mate, and hang the dead

no other on board sea-bird round bis PART III. Her lips were red, her looks were the skeleton-ship

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

free,

crew !
throat

Her locks were yellow as gold:
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

she, How glazed each weary eye, The ancient ma. When looking westward, I beheld

Who thicks man's blood with cold. riner beholdeth a sign in the ele. A something in the sky.

The naked hulk alongside came, Death and Life meat afar oft.

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

dieed 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,

won ! It moved and moved, and took at last

winneth the le

cient mariner. Quoth she, and whistles thrice. 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 courta

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

of the son.
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 veerd.

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 of eth him to be a lips baked,

the moon,

Fear at my heart, as at a cup, ship; and at a We could nor laugh nor wail; dear ransom he Th. he Through utter drought all dumb we

My life-blood seem'd to sip! freeth bis speech

The stars were dim, and thick the
from the bonds of
thirat.

night,
I bit my arm, I suck'd the blood,
And cried, A sail! a sail !

The steersman's face by his lamp

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 gria,

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

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

Too quick for groan or sigh, wa ship, that comes on ward without Hither to work us weal;

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

pang,
She steadies with upright keel! And cursed me with his eye.

moon,

His shipmatea drop dowa dead

The western wave was all a flame,
The day was wellnigh done,
Almost upon the western wave
Rested the broad bright sun;

Four times fifty living men,
(And I heard nor sigh nor groan,)
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
| They dropp'd down one by one.

calm.

und so many lie And dre

Bat 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 boar-frost spread; nariner.

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 beholdguest feareth that

I watch'd the water-snakes;

eth God's crear 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.”-
Bat the ancient Fear not, fear not, thou wedding-

Within the shadow of the ship mariner assureth

I watch'd their rich attire; him of his bodily

guest! life, and proceed. This body dropt not down.

Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, eth to relate bis

They coil'd and swam; and every borrible 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 mai
My soul in agony.

Their beauty might declare;

their happiness. He 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 things | And I bless'd them unaware : And a thousand thousand slimy things

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,

The selfsame moment I could pray; The spell begins

to break dead.

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 beat;

She sent the gentle sleep from heaven,
For the sky and the sea, and the sea | That slid into my soul.
and the sky,

The silly buckets on the deck, By grace of the
Lay like a load on my weary eye
And the dead were at my feet.

That had so long remain'd,

holy mother, the

ancient marines

I dreamt that they were fill'd with is refresbed with Bat the curse liv. The cold sweat melted from their

rain.

dew; eth for bim in the limbs,

And when I awoke it rain'd.
eye of the dead
Nor rot nor reek did they: me

My lips were wet, my throat was cold,
The look with which they look'd on

My garments all were dank;
Had never pass'd away.

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,
curse,

And was a blessed ghost.
And yet I could not die.
And soon I heard a roaring wind : He heareth

sounds and secth In bis loneliness The moving moon went up the sky,

It did not come anear;

strange sights and and fixedness be And nowhere did abide :

But with its sound it shook the sails, commotions in searaeth towards

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

That were so thin and sere.

element. moon, and the stars that still so. And a star or two beside

The upper air burst into life! journ, yet still move onward; and everywhere the blue sky belongs

And a hundred fire-nags sheen, to them, and is their appointed rest, and their native country and their Owo natural homes, which they enter upadnounced, 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,

The wan stars danced between.
For the last two lines of this stanza, I am indebted to
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

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 ship's crew are

The losesome Under the keel nine fathom deep

spirit from ship, inspired, and the

the From the land of mist and snow,

south pole carties 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

us the lica, is That made the ship to go.

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

still requires They groan'd, they stirr'd, they all And the ship stood still also.

vengeance. uprose,

The sun, right up 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-
The helmsman steer'd, the ship moved

Backwards and forwards half her

length
on;

With a short uneasy motion.
Yet never a breeze up blew;
The mariners all 'gan work the ropes, Then like a pawing horse let go,
Where they were wont to do; She made a sudden bound:
They raised their limbs like lifeless It Aung 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
The body of my brother's son

fellow dzmota, I have not to declare ;

the issuible is. Stood 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 try of thes

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

other, that per

“ Is it he ?” quoth one, " is this the arce long and wouls of the men, Bor by demons of be Be calm, thou wedding-guest : 1!

man?

heavy for the as. eartb or middle 'Twas not those souls that fled in

cient mariner

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

hath been accord blessed troop of

With his cruel bow he laid full low ed to the polar Which to their corses came again,

spirit, who re sent down by the But a troop of spirits blest:

The harmless albatross.

turneth soathinvocation of the

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

“The spirit who bideth by himself

In the land of mist and snow,
their arms,

He loved the bird that loved the man
And cluster'd round the mast;
Sweet sounds rose slowly through

Who shot him with his bow.”
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,
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.

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!

SECOND VOICE.
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-