Nor dim nor red, like God's own head,
The glorious Sun uprist :
Then all averred, I had killed the bird
That brought the fog and mist.
'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay,
That bring the fog and mist.

But when the fog cleared off, they jus. tify the sameand thus make them selves accom, plices in the crime.

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow* stream'd off free:
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.

The fair breeze continues; the ship enters the Pacific Ocean and sails northward, even till it reaches the Line,

Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt

down, 'Twas sad as sad could be ; And we did speak only to break. The silence of the sea!

The ship hath been suddenly becalmed.

* In the former edition the line was,

The furrow. follow'd free; ..

but I had not been long on board a ship, before I perceived that this was the image as seen by a spectator from the shore, or from another vessel. From the ship itself the Wake appears like a brook flowing off from the stern..

All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion,
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

And the Albatross begins to be avenged.

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

The very deep did rot: 0 Christ!
That ever this should be!
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea.

About, about, in reel and rout
The death-fires danced at night;
The water, like a witch's oils,
Burnt green, and blue and white.

And some in dreams assured were

A spirit had

followed Of the spirit that plagued us so :

them; one of

the invisible Nine fathom deep he had followed us

inhabitants of From the land of mist and snow.

this planet, neither de

parted souls And every tongue, through utter drought,

nor angels ;

concerning Was wither'd at the root ;

whom the

learned Jew, We could not speak, no more than if

Josephus, and

the Platonic We had been choak’d with soot.

Constantinopolitan, Mic

chael Psellus, may be consulted. They are very numerous, and there is no climate or element without one or more.

Ah! well a-day! what evil looks

The ship

mates, in Had I from old and young!

their sore Instead of the cross, the Albatross

distress,

would fain About my neck was hung.

throw the whole guilt

on the ancient Mariner: in sign whereof they hang the dead sea-bird round his neck.

THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER.

PART THE THIRD. I

There passed a weary time. Each throat
Was parched, and glazed each eye.
A weary time! a weary time!

How glazed each weary eye!
The ancient When looking westward, I beheld
Mariner be-
holdeth a sign A something in the sky. .
in the ele-
ment afar off.

· At first it seem'd a little speck,
And then it seem'd a mist :
It moved and moved, and took at last
A certain shape, I wist. ,

A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist !
And still it near’d and near’d :
And as if it dodged a water-sprite,
It plunged and tack'd and veer'd.

With throat unslack'd, with black lips

baked,
We could nor laugh nor wail; www .
Through utter drought all dumb we stood !
I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,
And cried, A sail ! a sail !

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.

With throat unslacked, with black lips

baked,
Agape they heard me call :
Gramercy! they for joy did grin,
And all at once their breath drew in,
As they were drinking all.

A flash of joy.

See ! see! (I cried) she tacks no more !
Hither to work us weal;
Without a breeze, without a tide,
She steddies with upright keel!

And horror follows. For can it be a ship that comes onward without wind or tide?

The western wave was all a-flame.
The day was well nigh done! .
Almost upon the western wave
Rested the broad bright Sun; ' ' '
When that strange shape drove suddenly
Betwixt us and the Sun.