The Rime Of The Anceint Mariner

In Seven Parts

Argument

How a Ship, having first sailed to the Equator, was driven by storms to the cold Country towards the South Pole; how the Ancient Mariner cruelly and in contempt of the laws of hospitality killed a Seabird and how he was followed by many and strange Judgments; and in what manner he came back to his own Country.

PART ONE

IT IS an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
"By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?	004

The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide,
And I am next of kin;
The guests are met, the feast is set:
May'st hear the merry din."	008

He holds him with his skinny hand,
"There was a ship," quoth he.
"Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!"
Eftsoons¹² his hand dropt he.	012

He holds him with his glittering eye--
The Wedding-Guest stood still,
And listens like a three years' child:
The Mariner hath his will.	016

The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone:
He cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.	020

"The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
Merrily did we drop
Below the kirk²³, below the hill,
Below the lighthouse top.	024

The Sun came up upon the left,
Out of the sea came he!
And he shone bright, and on the right
Went down into the sea.	028

Higher and higher every day,
Till over the mast at noon--"
The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
For he heard the loud bassoon.	032

The bride hath paced into the hall,
Red as a rose is she;
Nodding their heads before her goes
The merry minstrelsy³⁶.	036

The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast,
Yet he cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.	040

And now the Storm-blast came, and he
Was tyrannous and strong:
He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
And chased us south along.	044

With sloping masts and dipping prow,
As who⁴⁶ pursued with yell and blow
Still⁴⁷ treads the shadow of his foe,
And forward bends his head,	048
The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
And southward aye⁵⁰ we fled.

And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold:	052
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.

And through the drifts⁵⁴ the snowy clifts^54a
Did send a dismal sheen:	056
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken⁵⁷--
The ice was all between.

The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around:	060
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound⁶²!

At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;	064
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name.

It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
And round and round it flew.	068
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through!

And a good south wind sprung up behind;
The Albatross did follow,	072
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariners' hollo!

In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud⁷⁵,
It perched for vespers⁷⁶ nine;	076
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine."

"God save thee, ancient Mariner!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus!--	080
Why look'st thou so?'--"With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross."

PART TWO

THE Sun now rose upon the right:
Out of the sea came he,	084
Still hid in mist, and on the left
Went down into the sea.

And the good south wind still blew behind,
But no sweet bird did follow,	088
Nor any day for food or play
Came to the mariners' hollo!

And I had done a hellish thing,
And it would work 'em woe:	092
For all averred⁹³, I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow.
Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,
That made the breeze to blow!	096

Nor dim nor red like God's own head,
The glorious Sun uprist:
Then all averred⁹⁸, I had killed the bird
That brought the fog and mist.	100
'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay,
That bring the fog and mist.

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow¹⁰⁴ followed free;	104
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;	108
And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea!

All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,	112
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.

Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;	116
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;	120
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

The very deep did rot: O Christ!
That ever this should be!	124
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea.

About, about, in reel and rout¹²⁷
The death-fires¹²⁸ danced at night;	128
The water, like a witch's oils,
Burnt green, and blue and white.

And some in dreams assur'ed were
Of the Spirit that plagued us so;	132
Nine fathom deep he had followed us
From the land of mist and snow.

And every tongue, through utter drought,
Was withered at the root;	136
We could not speak, no more than if
We had been choked with soot.

Ah! well a-day¹³⁹! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!	140
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.

PART THREE

THERE passed a weary time. Each throat
Was parched, and glazed each eye.	144
A weary time! a weary time!
How glazed each weary eye,
When looking westward, I beheld
A something in the sky.	148

At first it seemed a little speck,
And then it seemed a mist;
It moved and moved, and took at last
A certain shape, I wist¹⁵².	152

A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!
And still it neared and neared:
As if it dodged a water-sprite,
It plunged and tacked and veered¹⁵⁶.	156

With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
We could nor laugh nor wail;
Through utter drought all dumb we stood!
I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,	160
And cried, A sail! a sail!

With throats unslaked¹⁶², with black lips baked,
Agape they heard me call:
Gramercy¹⁶⁴! they for joy did grin	164
And all at once their breath drew in,
As they were drinking all.

See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more!
Hither to work us weal¹⁶⁸;	168
Without a breeze, without a tide,
She steadies with upright keel!

The western wave was all a-flame.
The day was well nigh done!	172
Almost upon the western wave
Rested the broad bright Sun;
When that strange shape drove suddenly
Betwixt us and the Sun.	176

And straight the Sun was flecked with bars,
(Heaven's Mother send us grace!)
As if through a dungeon-grate he peered
With broad and burning face.	180

Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud)
How fast she nears and nears!
Are those her sails that glance in the Sun,
Like restless gossameres¹⁸⁴?	184

Are those her ribs through which the Sun
Did peer, as through a grate?
And is that Woman all her crew?
Is that a DEATH? and are there two?	188
Is DEATH that woman's mate?

Her lips were red, her looks were free,
Her locks were yellow as gold:
Her skin was as white as leprosy,	192
The Night-mare Life-in-Death was she,
Who thicks man's blood with cold.

The naked hulk alongside came,
And the twain were casting dice;	196
"The game is done! I've won! I've won!"
Quoth she, and whistles thrice.

The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out:
At one stride comes the dark;	200
With far-heard whisper, o'er the sea,
Off shot the spectre-bark.

We listened and looked sideways up!
Fear at my heart, as at a cup,	204

My life-blood seemed to sip!
The stars were dim, and thick the night,
The steersman's face by his lamp gleamed white;
From the sails the dew did drip--	208
Till clomb²⁰⁹ above the eastern bar
The horn'ed Moon, with one bright star
Within the nether tip.

One after one, by the star-dogged Moon,	212
Too quick for groan or sigh,
Each turned his face with a ghastly pang,
And cursed me with his eye.

Four times fifty living men,	216
(And I heard nor sigh nor groan)
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
They dropped down one by one.

The souls did from their bodies fly,--	220
They fled to bliss or woe!
And every soul, it passed me by,
Like the whizz of my cross-bow!

PART FOUR

"I FEAR thee, ancient Mariner!	224
I fear thy skinny hand!
And thou art long, and lank, and brown,
As is the ribbed sea-sand.

I fear thee and thy glittering eye,	228
And thy skinny hand, so brown."--
Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest!
This body dropt not down.

Alone, alone, all, all alone,	232
Alone on a wide wide sea!
And never a saint took pity on
My soul in agony.

The many men, so beautiful!	236
And they all dead did lie:
And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.

I looked upon the rotting sea,	240
And drew my eyes away
I looked upon the rotting deck,
And there the dead men lay

I looked to Heaven, and tried to pray;	244
But or²⁴⁵ ever a prayer had gusht,
A wicked whisper came, and made
My heart as dry as dust.

I closed my lids, and kept them close,	248
And the balls like pulses beat;
For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky
Lay like a load on my weary eye,
And the dead were at my feet.	252

The cold sweat melted from their limbs,
Nor rot nor reek did they:
The look with which they looked on me
Had never passed away.	256

An orphan's curse would drag to hell
A spirit from on high;
But oh! more horrible than that
Is the curse in a dead man's eye!	260
Seven days, seven nights saw that curse,
And yet I could not die.

The moving Moon went up the sky,
And no where did abide:	264
Softly she was going up,
And a star or two beside--

Her beams bemocked the sultry main²⁶⁷,
Like April hoar-frost²⁶⁸ spread;	268
But where the ship's huge shadow lay,
The charm'ed water burnt alway²⁷⁰
A still and awful red.

Beyond the shadow of the ship,	272
I watched the water-snakes:
They moved in tracks of shining white
And when they reared, the elfish light
Fell off in hoary flakes.	276

Within the shadow of the ship
I watched their rich attire:
Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
They coiled and swam; and every track	280
Was a flash of golden fire.

O happy living things! no tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,	284
And I blessed them unaware:
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
And I blessed them unaware.

The self-same moment I could pray;	288
And from my neck so free
The Albatross fell off, and sank
Like lead into the sea.

PART FIVE

OH sleep! it is a gentle thing,	292
Beloved from pole to pole!
To Mary Queen the praise be given!
She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven,
That slid into my soul.	296

The silly buckets on the deck,
That had so long remained,
I dreamt that they were filled with dew;
And when I awoke, it rained.	300

My lips were wet, my throat was cold,
My garments all were dank;
Sure I had drunken in my dreams,
And still my body drank.	304

I moved, and could not feel my limbs:
I was so light--almost
I thought that I had died in sleep,
And was a bless'ed ghost.	308

And soon I heard a roaring wind:
It did not come anear;
But with its sound it shook the sails,
That were so thin and sere³¹².	312

The upper air burst into life!
And a hundred fire-flags sheen,
To and fro they were hurried about!
And to and fro, and in and out,	316
The wan stars danced between.

And the coming wind did roar more loud,
And the sails did sigh like sedge³¹⁹;
And the rain poured down from one black cloud;	320
The Moon was at its edge.

The thick black cloud was cleft, and still
The Moon was at its side:
Like waters shot from some high crag,	324
The lightning fell with never a jag,
A river steep and wide.

The loud wind never reached the ship,
Yet now the ship moved on!	328
Beneath the lightning and the Moon
The dead men gave a groan.

They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose,
Nor spake, nor moved their eyes;	332
It had been strange, even in a dream,
To have seen those dead men rise.

The helmsman steered, the ship moved on;
Yet never a breeze up-blew;	336
The mariners all 'gan work the ropes,
Where they were wont³³⁸ to do;
They raised their limbs like lifeless tools--
We were a ghastly crew.	340

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.	344

"I fear thee, ancient Mariner!"
Be calm, thou Wedding-Guest!
'Twas not those souls that fled in pain,
Which to their corses³⁴⁸ came again,	348
But a troop of spirits blest:

For when it dawned--they dropped their arms,
And clustered round the mast;
Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths,	352
And from their bodies passed.

Around, around, flew each sweet sound,
Then darted to the Sun;
Slowly the sounds came back again,	356
Now mixed, now one by one.

Sometimes a-dropping from the sky
I heard the sky-lark sing;
Sometimes all little birds that are,	360
How they seemed to fill the sea and air
With their sweet jargoning³⁶²!

And now 'twas like all instruments,
Now like a lonely flute;	364
And now it is an angel's song,
That makes the heavens be mute.

It ceased; yet still the sails made on
A pleasant noise till noon,	368
A noise like of a hidden brook
In the leafy month of June,
That to the sleeping woods all night
Singeth a quiet tune.	372

Till noon we quietly sailed on,
Yet never a breeze did breathe:
Slowly and smoothly went the Ship,
Moved onward from beneath.	376

Under the keel nine fathom deep,
From the land of mist and snow,
The spirit slid: and it was he
That made the ship to go.	380
The sails at noon left off their tune,
And the ship stood still also.

The Sun, right up above the mast,
Had fixed her³⁸⁴ to the ocean:	384
But in a minute she 'gan stir,
With a short uneasy motion--
Backwards and forwards half her length
With a short uneasy motion.	388

Then like a pawing horse let go,
She made a sudden bound:
It flung the blood into my head,
And I fell down in a swound.	392

How long in that same fit I lay,
I have not to declare;
But ere my living life returned,
I heard and in my soul discerned	396
Two voices in the air.

"Is it he?" quoth one, "Is this the man?
By him who died on cross,
With his cruel bow he laid full low	400
The harmless Albatross.

The spirit who bideth by himself
In the land of mist and snow,
He loved the bird that loved the man	404
Who shot him with his bow."

The other was a softer voice,
As soft as honey-dew:
Quoth he, "The man hath penance done,	408
And penance more will do."

PART SIX

First Voice
"BUT tell me, tell me! speak again,
They soft response renewing--
What makes that ship drive on so fast?	412
What is the ocean doing?"

Second Voice
"Still as a slave before his lord,
The ocean hath no blast⁴¹⁵;
His great bright eye most silently	416
Up to the Moon is cast--

If he may know which way to go;
For she guides him smooth or grim.
See, brother, see! how graciously	420
She looketh down on him."

First Voice
"But why drives on that ship so fast,
Without or wave or wind?"

Second Voice
"The air is cut away before,	424
And closes from behind.

Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high!
Or we shall be belated:
For slow and slow that ship will go,	428
When the Mariner's trance is abated."

I woke, and we were sailing on
As in a gentle weather:
'Twas night, calm night, the moon was high;	432
The dead men stood together.

All stood together on the deck,
For a charnel-dungeon⁴³⁵ fitter:
All fixed on me their stony eyes,	436
That in the Moon did glitter.

The pang, the curse, with which they died,
Had never passed away:
I could not draw my eyes from theirs,	440
Nor turn them up to pray.

And now this spell was snapt: once more
I viewed the ocean green,
And looked far forth, yet little saw	444
Of what had else been seen--

Like one, that on a lonesome road
Doth walk in fear and dread,
And having once turned round walks on,	448
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.

But soon there breathed a wind on me,	452
Nor sound nor motion made:
Its path was not upon the sea,
In ripple or in shade.

It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek	456
Like a meadow-gale of spring--
It mingled strangely with my fears,
Yet it felt like a welcoming.

Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,	460
Yet she sailed softly too:
Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze--
On me alone it blew.

Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed	464
The light-house top I see?
Is this the hill? is this the kirk?
Is this mine own countree?

We drifted o'er the harbour-bar,	468
And I with sobs did pray--
O let me be awake, my God!
Or let me sleep alway.

The harbour-bay was clear as glass,	472
So smoothly it was strewn!
And on the bay, the moonlight lay,
And the shadow of the Moon.

The rock shone bright, the kirk no less,	476
That stands above the rock:
The moonlight steeped in silentness
The steady, weathercock.

And the bay was white with silent light,	480
Till rising from the same,
Full many shapes, that shadows were,
In crimson colours came.

A little distance from the prow	484
Those crimson shadows were:
I turned my eyes upon the deck--
Oh, Christ! what saw I there!

Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat,	488
And, by the holy rood⁴⁸⁹!
A man all light, a seraph-man⁴⁹⁰,
On every corse there stood.

This seraph-band, each waved his hand:	492
It was a heavenly, sight!
They stood as signals to the land,
Each one a lovely light;

This seraph-band, each waved his hand,	496
No voice did they impart--
No voice; but oh! the silence sank
Like music on my heart.

But soon I heard the dash of oars,	500
I heard the Pilot's cheer;
My head was turned perforce away
And I saw a boat appear.

The Pilot and the Pilot's boy,	504
I heard them coming fast:
Dear Lord in Heaven! it was a joy
The dead men could not blast.

I saw a third-I heard his voice:	508
It is the Hermit good!
He singeth loud his godly hymns
That he makes in the wood.
He'll shrieve⁵¹² my soul he'll wash away	512
The Albatross's blood.

PART SEVEN

THIS Hermit good lives in that wood
Which slopes down to the sea.
How loudly his sweet voice he rears!	516
He loves to talk with marineres
That come from a far countree.

He kneels at morn, and noon, and eve--
He hath a cushion plump:	520
It is the moss that wholly hides
The rotted old oak-stump.

The skiff-boat neared: I heard them talk,
"Why, this is strange, I trow⁵²⁴!	524
Where are those lights so many and fair,
That signal made but now?"

"Strange, by my faith!" the Hermit said--
"And they answered not our cheer!	528
The planks looked warped! and see those sails,
How thin they are and sere!
I never saw aught like to them,
Unless perchance it were	532

Brown skeletons of leaves that lag⁵³³
My forest-brook along;
When the ivy-tod⁵³⁵ is heavy with snow,
And the owlet whoops to the wolf below,	536
That eats the she-wolf's young."

"Dear Lord! it hath a fiendish look--
(The Pilot made reply)
I am a-feared"--"Push on, push on!"	540
Said the Hermit cheerily.

The boat came closer to the ship,
But I nor spake nor stirred;
The boat came close beneath the ship,	544
And straight⁵⁴⁵ a sound was heard.

Under the water it rumbled on,
Still louder and more dead:
It reached the ship, it split the bay;	548
The ship went down like lead.

Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound,
Which sky and ocean smote,
Like one that hath been seven days drowned	552
My body lay afloat;
But swift as dreams, myself I found
Within the Pilot's boat.

Upon the whirl, where sank the ship,	556
The boat spun round and round;
And all was still, save that the hill
Was telling of the sound.

I moved my lips--the Pilot shrieked	560
And fell down in a fit;
The holy Hermit raised his eyes,
And prayed where he did sit.

I took the oars: the Pilot's boy,	564
Who now doth crazy go,
Laughed loud and long, and all the while
His eyes went to and fro.
"Ha! ha!" quoth he, "full plain I see,	568
The Devil knows how to row."

And now, all in my own countree,
I stood on the firm land!
The Hermit stepped forth from the boat,	572
And scarcely he could stand.

"O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!"
The Hermit crossed⁵⁷⁵ his brow.
"Say quick," quoth he, "I bid thee say--	576
What manner of man art thou?

Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched
With a woful agony,
Which forced me to begin my tale;	580
And then it left me free.

Since then, at an uncertain hour,
That agony returns:
And till my ghastly tale is told,	584
This heart within me burns.

I pass, like night, from land to land;
I have strange power of speech;
That moment that his face I see,	588
I know the man that must hear me:
To him my tale I teach.

What loud uproar bursts from that door!
The wedding-guests are there:	592
But in the garden-bower the bride
And bride-maids singing are:
And hark the little vesper bell,
Which biddeth me to prayer!	596

O Wedding-Guest! this soul hath been
Alone on a wide wide sea:
So lonely 'twas, that God himself
Scarce seem'ed there to be.	600

O sweeter than the marriage-feast,
'Tis sweeter far to me,
To walk together to the kirk
With a goodly company!--	604

To walk together to the kirk,
And all together pray,
While each to his great Father bends,
Old men, and babes, and loving friends	608
And youths and maidens gay!

Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
He prayeth well, who loveth well	612
Both man and bird and beast.

He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,	616
He made and loveth all.

The Mariner, whose eye is bright,
Whose beard with age is hoar,
Is gone: and now the Wedding-Guest	620
Turned from the bridegroom's door.

He went like one that hath been stunned,
And is of sense forlorn:
A sadder and a wiser man,	624
He rose the morrow morn.

Notes

line 12 - At once.
line 23 - Church.
line 36 - A group of musicions.
line 46 - One.
line 47 - Always.
line 55 - Icebergs, patches of fog, or waves.
line 55a - Large cracks or fissures in the ice.
line 57 - Saw.
line 62 - Swoon.
line 75 - A support rope that stretches from the top of the mast to the side of the ship.
line 76 - Evenings, or evening prayers.
line 93 - To affirm positively; declare.
line 98 - Rose up.
line 104 - The wake the follows a moving ship.
line 127 - A chaotic uproar.
line 128 - Perhaps the glow emitted by some rotting substances.
line 139 - An exclamation of sorrow, 'Alas'.
line 152 - knew.
line 156 - turned towards the wind, and then away from it.
line 162 - Unquenched of thirst.
line 164 - An exclamation of joy.
line 168 - Do us good.
line 184 - A fine film of cobwebs often seen floating in the air.
line 209 - Climbed.
line 245 - before.
line 267 - The open sea.
line 268 - Frosty white deposits left on ship structures by freezing dew.
line 270 - Always.
line 312 - Withered or dry.
line 319 - Reedy, grasslike plants.
line 362 - Calls or twittering.
line 384 - Held steadily in the same possition.
line 415 - Wind.
line 435 - grave or tomb.
line 489 - Crucifix.
line 490 - Calls or twittering.
line 490 - Angel of the highest rank.
line 512 - Absolution from guilt following confession.
line 524 - Believe.
line 533 - Drift more slowly than the current.
line 535 - A clump if Ivy.
line 545 - Straightaway or at once.
line 575 - Made the sign of the cross.

-- i n d e x -- n e x t --