The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

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.

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.

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

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 bidden to a wedding-feast, and detaineth one.

An ancient Mariner meeteth three Gallants bidden to a wedding-feast, and detaineth one.

`By thy long beard and glittering eye,

Now wherefore stopp'st thou me ?

And I am next of kin ;

And I am next of kin ;

May'st hear the merry din.'

May'st hear the merry din.'

The Wedding-Guest is spell-bound by the eye of the old seafaring man, and constrained to hear his tale.

The Wedding-Guest is spell-bound by the eye of the old seafaring man, and constrained to hear his tale.

And thus spake on that ancient man,

`The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,

The bride hath paced into the hall,

`And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he

With sloping masts and dipping prow,

With sloping masts and dipping prow,

As who pursued with yell and blow

Still treads the shadow of his foe,

Still treads the shadow of his foe,

The southward aye we fled.

And it grew wondrous cold :

And ice, mast-high, came floating by,

As green as emerald.

And through the drifts the snowy clifts

Did send a dismal sheen :

Did send a dismal sheen :

Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken--

Till a great sea-bird, called the Albatross, came through the snow-fog, and was received with great joy and hospitality.

Till a great sea-bird, called the Albatross, came through the snow-fog, and was received with great joy and hospitality.

And lo ! the Albatross proveth a bird of good omen, and followeth the ship as it returned northward through fog and floating ice.

In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,

Glimmered the white Moon-shine.'

The ancient Mariner inhospitably killeth the pious bird of good omen.

From the fiends, that plague thee thus !--

From the fiends, that plague thee thus !--

And it would work 'em woe :

For all averred, I had killed the bird

Ah wretch ! said they, the bird to slay,

Ah wretch ! said they, the bird to slay,

But when the fog cleared off, they justify the same, and thus make themselves accomplices in the crime.

As idle as a painted ship

And the Albatross begins to be avenged.

About, about, in reel and rout

A Spirit had followed them ; one of the invisible inhabitants of this planet, neither departed souls nor angels ; concerning whom the learned Jew, Josephus, and the Platonic Constantinopolitan, Michael Psellus, may be consulted.

A Spirit had followed them ; one of the invisible inhabitants of this planet, neither departed souls nor angels ; concerning whom the learned Jew, Josephus, and the Platonic Constantinopolitan, Michael Psellus, may be consulted.

A Spirit had followed them ; one of the invisible inhabitants of this planet, neither departed souls nor angels ; concerning whom the learned Jew, Josephus, and the Platonic Constantinopolitan, Michael Psellus, may be consulted.

A Spirit had followed them ; one of the invisible inhabitants of this planet, neither departed souls nor angels ; concerning whom the learned Jew, Josephus, and the Platonic Constantinopolitan, Michael Psellus, may be consulted.

A Spirit had followed them ; one of the invisible inhabitants of this planet, neither departed souls nor angels ; concerning whom the learned Jew, Josephus, and the Platonic Constantinopolitan, Michael Psellus, may be consulted.

They are very numerous, and there is no climate or element without one or more.

They are very numerous, and there is no climate or element without one or more.

And some in dreams assuréd were

And every tongue, through utter drought,

And every tongue, through utter drought,

Was withered at the root ;

There passed a weary time.

Was parched, and glazed each eye.

It plunged and tacked and veered.

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.

We could nor laugh nor wail ;

Agape they heard me call :

And straight the Sun was flecked with bars,

And straight the Sun was flecked with bars,

(Heaven's Mother send us grace !)

As if through a dungeon-grate he peered

As if through a dungeon-grate he peered

Like restless gossameres ?

Is DEATH that woman's mate ? [first version of this stanza through the end of Part III]

Her skin was as white as leprosy,

Death and Life-in-Death have diced for the ship's crew, and she (the latter) winneth the ancient Mariner.

And the twain were casting dice ;

Quoth she, and whistles thrice.

No twilight within the courts of the Sun.

Within the nether tip.

One after one, by the star-dogged Moon,

Each turned his face with a ghastly pang,

Each turned his face with a ghastly pang,

And thou art long, and lank, and brown,

But the ancient Mariner assureth him of his bodily life, and proceedeth to relate his horrible penance.

But the ancient Mariner assureth him of his bodily life, and proceedeth to relate his horrible penance.

In his loneliness and fixedness he yearneth towards the journeying Moon, and the stars that still sojourn, yet still move onward ; and every where the blue sky belongs to them, and is their appointed rest, and their native country and their own natural homes, which they enter unannounced, as lords that are certainly expected and yet there is a silent joy at their arrival.

And no where did abide :

The charméd water burnt alway

Fell off in hoary flakes.

I watched their rich attire :

Their beauty might declare :

My garments all were dank ;

He heareth sounds and seeth strange sights and commotions in the sky and the element.

That were so thin and sere.

The thick black cloud was cleft, and still

The bodies of the ship's crew are inspired, and the ship moves on ;

Where they were wont to do ;

But not by the souls of the men, nor by dæmons of earth or middle air, but by a blessed troop of angelic spirits, sent down by the invocation of the guardian saint.

But not by the souls of the men, nor by dæmons of earth or middle air, but by a blessed troop of angelic spirits, sent down by the invocation of the guardian saint.

That makes the heavens be mute.

It ceased ; yet still the sails made on

A noise like of a hidden brook

[Additional stanzas, dropped after the first edition.]

The lonesome Spirit from the south-pole carries on the ship as far as the Line, in obedience to the angelic troop, but still requireth vengeance.

The lonesome Spirit from the south-pole carries on the ship as far as the Line, in obedience to the angelic troop, but still requireth vengeance.

It flung the blood into my head,

The Polar Spirit's fellow-dæmons, the invisible inhabitants of the element, take part in his wrong ; and two of them relate, one to the other, that penance long and heavy for the ancient Mariner hath been accorded to the Polar Spirit, who returneth southward.

I heard and in my soul discerned

Thy soft response renewing--

For she guides him smooth or grim.

The Mariner hath been cast into a trance ; for the angelic power causeth the vessel to drive northward faster than human life could endure.

The Mariner hath been cast into a trance ; for the angelic power causeth the vessel to drive northward faster than human life could endure.

Or we shall be belated :

When the Mariner's trance is abated.'

The supernatural motion is retarded ; the Mariner awakes, and his penance begins anew.

The supernatural motion is retarded ; the Mariner awakes, and his penance begins anew.

The curse is finally expiated.

The harbour-bay was clear as glass,

So smoothly it was strewn !

In crimson colours came.

A man all light, a seraph-man,

No voice did they impart--

It is the moss that wholly hides

The skiff-boat neared : I heard them talk,

`Strange, by my faith !' the Hermit said--

Brown skeletons of leaves that lag

Which sky and ocean smote,

But swift as dreams, myself I found

Upon the whirl, where sank the ship,

I moved my lips--the Pilot shrieked

And scarcely he could stand.

The ancient Mariner earnestly entreateth the Hermit to shrieve him ; and the penance of life falls on him.

Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched

And hark the little vesper bell,

Scarce seeméd there to be.

And to teach, by his own example, love and reverence to all things that God made and loveth.

And is of sense forlorn :

He rose the morrow morn. ________________________________________ 1797-1798, first version published 1798, 1800, 1802, 1805; revised version, including addition of his marginal glosses, published in 1817, 1828, 1829, 1834.