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.

An ancient
Mariner

meeteth three
Gallants bid-
den to a wed-
ding-feast, and
detaineth one.

The WeddingGuest is spellbound by the eye of the old seafaring man, and constrained

PART I

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?

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."

He holds him with his skinny hand,

"There was a ship," quoth he.

"Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!"

Eftsoons his hand dropt he.

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

The Mariner tells how the ship sailed southward with a good wind and fair weather, till it reached the

line.

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,

Merrily did we drop

Below the kirk, below the hill,

Below the lighthouse top.

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.

The Wedding Higher and higher every day,

Guest heareth the bridal

music; but the Mariner con. tinueth his tale.

Till over the mast at noon

The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
For he heard the loud bassoon.

The bride hath paced into the hall,
Red as a rose is she;

Nodding their heads before her goes
The merry minstrelsy.

The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast,
Yet he cannot choose but hear;

And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.

The ship driven "And now the STORM-BLAST came,

by a storm

toward the south pole.

and he

Was tyrannous and strong:

He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
And chased us south along.

With sloping masts and dipping prow,
As who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe,
And forward bends his head,

The ship drove fast, loud roared the
blast,

And southward aye we fled.

And now there came both mist and

snow,

And it grew wondrous cold:

The land of ice, And ice, mast-high, came floating by,

and of fearful

sounds, where

no living thing

was to be seen.

Till a great

As green as emerald.

And through the drifts the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal sheen:

Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken-
The ice was all between.

sea-bird, called The ice was here, the ice was there,

the Albatross,

came through the snow-fog, and was received with great joy and hospitality. And lo! the

Albatross prov

eth a bird of

The ice was all around:

{

It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,

Like noises in a swound!

good omen, and At length did cross an Albatross,

followeth the

ship as it returned northward through

fog and floating ice.

Thorough the fog it came;

As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name.

The ancient

Mariner inhospitably killeth the pious bird of good omen.

It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
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,

And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariners' hollo!

In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine;

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!-
Why look'st thou so?"-"With my
cross-bow

I shot the Albatross.

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,

But no sweet bird did follow,

His shipmates cry out against the ancient Mariner, for

Nor any day for food or play
Came to the mariners' hollo!

And I had done an hellish thing,
And it would work 'em woe:

killing the bird For all averred, I had killed the bird That made the breeze to blow.

of good luck.

But when the fog cleared off,

they justify the same, and thus

make themselves accomplices in the crime.

Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,
That made the breeze to blow!

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.

The fair breeze The fair breeze blew, the white foam

continues; the

ship enters the Pacific Ocean and sails northward, even till it reaches the Line.

The ship hath been suddenly becalmed.

flew,

The furrow followed free;

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:

And we did speak only to break

The silence of the sea!

All in a hot and copper sky,

The bloody Sun, at noon,