0001 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner 
0002 By SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1834) 
0003 
0004 PART THE FIRST 
0005 It is an ancient Mariner,
0006 And he stoppeth one of three.
0007 'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
0008 Now wherefore stopp'st thou me? 
0009 The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide,
0010 And I am next of kin;
0011 The guests are met, the feast is set:
0012 May'st hear the merry din.' 
0013 He holds him with his skinny hand,
0014 'There was a ship,' quoth he.
0015 'Hold off! unhand me, greybeard loon!'
0016 Eftsoons his hand dropt he. 
0017 He holds him with his glittering eye -
0018 The Wedding-Guest stood still,
0019 And listens like a three years child:
0020 The Mariner hath his will. 
0021 The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone:
0022 He cannot chuse but hear;
0023 And thus spake on that ancient man,
0024 The bright-eyed Mariner.
0025 ********** 
0026 The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
0027 Merrily did we drop
0028 Below the kirk, below the hill,
0029 Below the light house top 
0030 The Sun came up upon the left,
0031 Out of the sea came he!
0032 And he shone bright, and on the right
0033 Went down into the sea. 
0034 Higher and higher every day,
0035 Till over the mast at noon -
0036 The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
0037 For he heard the loud bassoon. 
0038 The bride hath paced into the hall,
0039 Red as a rose is she;
0040 Nodding their heads before her goes
0041 The merry minstrelsy. 
0042 The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast,
0043 Yet he cannot chuse but hear;
0044 And thus spake on that ancient man,
0045 The bright-eyed Mariner. 
0046 And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he
0047 Was tyrannous and strong:
0048 He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
0049 And chased us south along. 
0050 With sloping masts and dipping prow,
0051 As who pursued with yell and blow
0052 Still treads the shadow of his foe,
0053 And forward bends his head,
0054 The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
0055 And southward aye we fled. 
0056 And now there came both mist and snow,
0057 And it grew wondrous cold:
0058 And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
0059 As green as emerald. 
0060 And through the drifts the snowy clifts
0061 Did send a dismal sheen:
0062 Nor shapes of men nor beast we ken -
0063 The ice was all between. 
0064 The ice was here, the ice was there,
0065 The ice was all around:
0066 It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
0067 Like noises in a swound! 
0068 At length did cross an Albatross,
0069 Thorough the fog it came;
0070 As if it had been a Christian soul,
0071 We hailed it in God's name. 
0072 It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
0073 And round and round it flew.
0074 The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
0075 The helmsman steered us through! 
0076 And a good south wind sprung up behind;
0077 The Albatross did follow,
0078 And every day, for food or play,
0079 Came to the mariners' hollo! 
0080 In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
0081 It perched for vespers nine;
0082 Whiles all the night, through fog smoke white,
0083 Glimmered the white Moon-shine. 
0084 'God save thee, ancient Mariner!
0085 From the fiends, that plague thee thus! -
0086 Why look'st thou so?' - With my cross-bow
0087 I shot the ALBATROSS. 
0088 PART THE SECOND 
0089 The Sun now rose upon the right:
0090 Out of the sea came he,
0091 Still hid in mist, and on the left
0092 Went down into the sea. 
0093 And the good south wind still blew behind,
0094 But no sweet bird did follow,
0095 Nor any day for food or play
0096 Came to the mariners' hollo! 
0097 And I had done a hellish thing,
0098 And it would work 'em woe:
0099 For all averred, I had killed the bird
0100 That made the breeze to blow.
0101 Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay
0102 That made the breeze to blow! 
0103 Nor dim nor red, like God's own head,
0104 The glorious Sun uprist:
0105 Then all averred, I had killed the bird
0106 That brought the fog and mist.
0107 'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay,
0108 That bring the fog and mist. 
0109 The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
0110 The furrow followed free;
0111 We were the first that ever burst
0112 Into that silent sea. 
0113 Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,
0114 'Twas sad as sad could be;
0115 And we did speak only to break
0116 The silence of the sea! 
0117 All in a hot and copper sky,
0118 The bloody Sun, at noon,
0119 Right up above the mast did stand,
0120 No bigger than the Moon. 
0121 Day after day, day after day,
0122 We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
0123 As idle as a painted ship
0124 Upon a painted ocean. 
0125 Water, water, every where,
0126 And all the boards did shrink;
0127 Water, water, every where,
0128 Nor any drop to drink. 
0129 The very deep did rot: O Christ!
0130 That ever this should be!
0131 Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
0132 Upon the slimy sea. 
0133 About, about, in reel and rout
0134 The death-fires danced at night;
0135 The water, like a witch's oils,
0136 Burnt green, and blue and white. 
0137 And some in dreams assured were
0138 Of the spirit that plagued us so;
0139 Nine fathom deep he had followed us
0140 From the land of mist and snow. 
0141 And every tongue, through utter drought,
0142 Was withered at the root;
0143 We could not speak, no more than if
0144 We had been choked with soot. 
0145 Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
0146 Had I from old and young!
0147 Instead of the cross, the Albatross
0148 About my neck was hung. 
0149 PART THE THIRD 
0150 There passed a weary time. Each throat
0151 Was parched, and glazed each eye.
0152 A weary time! a weary time!
0153 How glazed each weary eye,
0154 When looking westward, I beheld
0155 A something in the sky. 
0156 At first it seemed a little speck,
0157 And then it seemed a mist;
0158 It moved and moved, and took at last
0159 A certain shape, I wist. 
0160 A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!
0161 And still it neared and neared:
0162 As if it dodged a water-sprite,
0163 It plunged and tacked and veered. 
0164 With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
0165 We could nor laugh nor wail;
0166 Through utter drought all dumb we stood!
0167 I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,
0168 And cried, A sail! a sail! 
0169 With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
0170 Agape they heard me call:
0171 Gramercy! they for joy did grin,
0172 And all at once their breath drew in,
0173 As they were drinking all. 
0174 See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more!
0175 Hither to work us weal;
0176 Without a breeze, without a tide,
0177 She steadies with upright keel! 
0178 The western wave was all a-flame.
0179 The day was well nigh done!
0180 Almost upon the western wave
0181 Rested the broad bright Sun;
0182 When that strange shape drove suddenly
0183 Betwixt us and the Sun. 
0184 And straight the Sun was flecked with bars,
0185 (Heaven's Mother send us grace!)
0186 As if through a dungeon-grate he peered
0187 With broad and burning face. 
0188 Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud)
0189 How fast she nears and nears!
0190 Are those her sails that glance in the Sun,
0191 Like restless gossameres? 
0192 Are those her ribs through which the Sun
0193 Did peer, as through a grate?
0194 And is that Woman all her crew?
0195 Is that a DEATH: and are there two?
0196 Is DEATH that woman's mate? 
0197 Her lips were red, her looks were free,
0198 Her locks were yellow as gold:
0199 Her skin was as white as leprosy,
0200 The Night-mare LIFE-IN-DEATH was she,
0201 Who thicks man's blood with cold. 
0202 The naked hulk alongside came,
0203 And the twain were casting dice;
0204 'The game is done! I've won! I've won!'
0205 Quoth she, and whistles thrice. 
0206 The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out:
0207 At one stride comes the dark;
0208 With far-heard whisper, o'er the sea,
0209 Off shot the spectre-bark. 
0210 We listened! and looked sideways up!
0211 Fear at my heart, as at a cup,
0212 My life-blood seemed to sip!
0213 The stars were dim, and thick the night,
0214 The steersman's face by his lamp gleamed white;
0215 From the sails the dew did drip-
0216 Till clomb above the eastern bar
0217 The horned Moon, with one bright star
0218 Within the nether tip. 
0219 One after one, by the star-dogged Moon,
0220 Too quick for groan or sigh,
0221 Each turned his face with a ghastly pang,
0222 And cursed me with his eye. 
0223 Four times fifty living men,
0224 (And I heard nor sigh nor groan)
0225 With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
0226 They dropped down one by one. 
0227 The souls did from their bodies fly, -
0228 They fled to bliss or woe!
0229 And every soul, it passed me by,
0230 Like thee whizz of my cross-bow! 
0231 PART THE FOURTH 
0232 'I fear thee, ancient Mariner!
0233 I fear thy skinny hand!
0234 And thou art long, and lank, and brown,
0235 As is the ribbed sea-sand. 
0236 I fear thee and thy glittering eye,
0237 And thy skinny hand, so brown,' -
0238 Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest!
0239 This body dropt not down. 
0240 Alone, alone, all, all alone,
0241 Alone on a wide wide sea!
0242 And never a saint took pity on
0243 My soul in agony. 
0244 The many men, so beautiful!
0245 And they all dead did lie:
0246 And a thousand thousand slimy things
0247 Lived on; and so did I. 
0248 I looked upon the rotting sea,
0249 And drew my eyes away;
0250 I looked upon the rotting deck,
0251 And there the dead men lay. 
0252 I looked to Heaven, and tried to pray;
0253 But or ever a prayer had gusht,
0254 A wicked whisper came, and made
0255 My heart as dry as dust. 
0256 I closed my lids, and kept them close,
0257 And the balls like pulses beat;
0258 For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky
0259 Lay like a load on my weary eye,
0260 And the dead were at my feet. 
0261 The cold sweat melted from their limbs,
0262 Nor rot nor reek did they:
0263 The look with which they looked on me
0264 Had never passed away. 
0265 An orphan's curse would drag to Hell
0266 A spirit from on high;
0267 But oh! more horrible than that
0268 Is the curse in a dead man's eye!
0269 Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,
0270 And yet I could not die. 
0271 The moving Moon went up the sky,
0272 And no where did abide:
0273 Softly she was going up,
0274 And a star or two beside - 
0275 Her beams bemocked the sultry main,
0276 Like April hoar-frost spread;
0277 But where the ship's huge shadow lay,
0278 The charmed water burnt alway
0279 A still and awful red. 
0280 Beyond the shadow of the ship,
0281 I watched the water-snakes:
0282 They moved in tracks of shining white,
0283 And when they reared, the elfish light
0284 Fell off in hoary flakes. 
0285 Within the shadow of the ship
0286 I watched their rich attire:
0287 Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
0288 They coiled and swam; and every track
0289 Was a flash of golden fire. 
0290 O happy living things! no tongue
0291 Their beauty might declare:
0292 A spring of love gushed from my heart,
0293 And I blessed them unaware:
0294 Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
0295 And I blessed them unaware. 
0296 The self same moment I could pray;
0297 And from my neck so free
0298 The Albatross fell off, and sank
0299 Like lead into the sea. 
0300 PART THE FIFTH 
0301 O sleep! it is a gentle thing,
0302 Beloved from pole to pole!
0303 To Mary Queen the praise be given!
0304 She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven,
0305 That slid into my soul. 
0306 The silly buckets on the deck,
0307 That had so long remained,
0308 I dreamt that they were filled with dew;
0309 And when I awoke, it rained. 
0310 My lips were wet, my throat was cold,
0311 My garments all were dank;
0312 Sure I had drunken in my dreams,
0313 And still my body drank. 
0314 I moved, and could not feel my limbs:
0315 I was so light - almost
0316 I thought that I had died in sleep,
0317 And was a blessed ghost. 
0318 And soon I heard a roaring wind:
0319 It did not come anear;
0320 But with its sound it shook the sails,
0321 That were so thin and sere. 
0322 The upper air burst into life!
0323 And a hundred fire-flags sheen,
0324 To and fro they were hurried about!
0325 And to and fro, and in and out,
0326 The wan stars danced between. 
0327 And the coming wind did roar more loud,
0328 And the sails did sigh like sedge;
0329 And the rain poured down from one black cloud;
0330 The Moon was at its wedge. 
0331 The thick black cloud was cleft, and still
0332 The Moon was at its side:
0333 Like waters shot from some high crag,
0334 The lightning fell with never a jag,
0335 A river steep and wide. 
0336 The loud wind never reached the ship,
0337 Yet now the ship moved on!
0338 Beneath the lightning, and the Moon
0339 The dead men gave a groan. 
0340 They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose,
0341 Nor spake, nor moved their eyes;
0342 It had been strange, even in a dream,
0343 To have seen those dead men rise. 
0344 The helmsman steered, the ship moved on;
0345 Yet never a breeze up blew;
0346 The mariners all 'gan work the ropes,
0347 Where they were wont to do;
0348 They raised their limbs like lifeless tools -
0349 We were a ghastly crew. 
0350 The body of my brother's son
0351 Stood by me, knee to knee:
0352 The body and I pulled at one rope,
0353 But he said nought to me. 
0354 'I fear thee, ancient Mariner!'
0355 Be calm, thou Wedding-Guest!
0356 'Twas not those souls that fled in pain,
0357 Which to their corses came again,
0358 But a troop of spirits blest: 
0359 For when it dawned - they dropped their arms,
0360 And clustered round the mast;
0361 Sweet sound rose slowly through their mouths,
0362 And from their bodies passed. 
0363 Around, around, flew each sweet sound,
0364 Then darted to the Sun;
0365 Slowly the sounds came back again,
0366 Now mixed, now one by one. 
0367 Sometimes a-dropping from the sky
0368 I heard the sky-lark sing;
0369 Sometimes all little birds that are,
0370 How they seemed to fill the sea and air
0371 With their sweet jargoning! 
0372 And now 'twas like all instruments,
0373 Now like a lonely flute;
0374 And now it is an angel's song,
0375 That makes the Heavens be mute. 
0376 It ceased; yet still the sails made on
0377 A pleasant noise till noon,
0378 A noise like of a hidden brook
0379 In the leafy month of June,
0380 That to the sleeping woods all night
0381 Singeth a quiet tune. 
0382 Till noon we quietly sailed on,
0383 Yet never a breeze did breathe:
0384 Slowly and smoothly went the ship,
0385 Moved onward from beneath. 
0386 Under the keel nine fathom deep,
0387 From the land of mist and snow,
0388 The spirit slid: and it was he
0389 That made the ship to go.
0390 The sails at noon left off their tune,
0391 And the ship stood still also. 
0392 The Sun, right up above the mast,
0393 Had fixed her to the ocean:
0394 But in a minute she 'gan stir,
0395 With a short uneasy motion -
0396 Backwards and forwards half her length
0397 With a short uneasy motion. 
0398 Then like a pawing horse let go,
0399 She made a sudden bound:
0400 It flung the blood into my head,
0401 And I fell down in a swound. 
0402 How long in that same fit I lay,
0403 I have not to declare;
0404 But ere my living life returned,
0405 I heard and in my soul discerned
0406 Two VOICES in the air. 
0407 'Is it he?' quoth one. 'Is this the man?
0408 By him who died on cross,
0409 With his cruel bow he laid full low
0410 The harmless Albatross. 
0411 The spirit who bideth by himself
0412 In the land of mist and snow,
0413 He loved the bird that loved the man
0414 Who shot him with his bow.' 
0415 The other was a softer voice,
0416 As soft as honey-dew:
0417 Quoth he, 'The man hath penance done,
0418 And penance more will do.' 
0419 PART THE SIXTH 
0420 FIRST VOICE
0421 But tell me, tell me! speak again,
0422 Thy soft response renewing -
0423 What makes that ship drive on so fast?
0424 What is the OCEAN doing? 
0425 SECOND VOICE
0426 Still as a slave before his lord,
0427 The OCEAN hath no blast;
0428 His great bright eye most silently
0429 Up to the Moon is cast - 
0430 If he may know which way to go;
0431 For she guides him smooth or grim.
0432 See, brother, see! how graciously
0433 She looketh down on him. 
0434 FIRST VOICE
0435 But why drives on that ship so fast,
0436 Without or wave or wind? 
0437 SECOND VOICE
0438 The air is cut away before,
0439 And closes from behind. 
0440 Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high!
0441 Or we shall be belated:
0442 For slow and slow that ship will go,
0443 When the Mariner's trance is abated. 
0444 I woke, and we were sailing on
0445 As in a gentle weather:
0446 'Twas night, calm night, the Moon was high;
0447 The dead men stood together. 
0448 All stood together on the deck,
0449 For a charnel-dungeon fitter:
0450 All fixed on me their stony eyes,
0451 That in the Moon did glitter. 
0452 The pang, the curse, with which they died,
0453 Had never passed away:
0454 I could not draw my eyes from theirs,
0455 Nor turn them up to pray. 
0456 And now this spell was snapt: once more
0457 I viewed the ocean green,
0458 And looked far forth, yet little saw
0459 Of what had else been seen - 
0460 Like one, that on a lonesome road
0461 Doth walk in fear and dread,
0462 And having once turned round walks on,
0463 And turns no more his head;
0464 Because he knows, a frightful fiend
0465 Doth close behind him tread. 
0466 But soon there breathed a wind on me,
0467 Nor sound nor motion made:
0468 Its path was not upon the sea,
0469 In ripple or in shade. 
0470 It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek
0471 Like a meadow-gale of spring -
0472 It mingled strangely with my fears,
0473 Yet it felt like a welcoming. 
0474 Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,
0475 Yet she sailed softly too:
0476 Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze -
0477 On me alone it blew. 
0478 Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed
0479 The light-house top I see?
0480 Is this the hill? Is this the kirk?
0481 Is this mine own countree? 
0482 We drifted o'er the harbour-bar,
0483 And I with sobs did pray -
0484 O let me be awake, my God!'
0485 Or let me sleep alway. 
0486 The harbour-bay was clear as glass,
0487 So smoothly it was strewn!
0488 And on the bay the moonlight lay,
0489 And the shadow of the Moon. 
0490 The rock shone bright, the kirk no less,
0491 That stands above the rock:
0492 The moonlight steeped in silentness
0493 The steady weathercock. 
0494 And the bay was white with silent light,
0495 Till rising from the same,
0496 Full many shapes, that shadows were,
0497 In crimson colours came. 
0498 A little distance from the prow
0499 Those crimson shadows were:
0500 I turned my eyes upon the deck -
0501 Oh, Christ! what saw I there! 
0502 Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat,
0503 And, by the holy rood!
0504 A man all light, a seraph-man,
0505 On every corse there stood. 
0506 The seraph-band, each waved his hand:
0507 It was a heavenly sight!
0508 They stood as signals to the land,
0509 Each one a lovely light: 
0510 This seraph-band, each waved his hand,
0511 No voice did they impart -
0512 No voice; but oh! the silence sank
0513 Like music on my heart. 
0514 But soon I heard the dash of oars,
0515 I heard the Pilot's cheer;
0516 My head was turned perforce away,
0517 And I saw a boat appear. 
0518 The Pilot, and the Pilot's boy,
0519 I heard them coming fast:
0520 Dear Lord in Heaven! it was a joy
0521 The dead men could not blast. 
0522 I saw a third - I heard his voice:
0523 It is the Hermit good!
0524 He singeth loud his godly hymns
0525 That he makes in the wood.
0526 He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash away
0527 The Albatross's blood. 
0528 PART THE SEVENTH 
0529 This Hermit good lives in that wood
0530 Which slopes down to the sea.
0531 How loudly his sweet voice he rears!
0532 He loves to talk with marineres
0533 That come from a far countree. 
0534 He kneels at morn, and noon and eve -
0535 He hath a cushion plump:
0536 It is the moss that wholly hides
0537 The rotted old oak-stump. 
0538 The skiff-boat neared: I heard them talk,
0539 'Why, this is strange, I trow!
0540 Where are those lights so many and fair,
0541 That signal made but now?' 
0542 'Strange, by my faith!' the Hermit said -
0543 'And they answered not our cheer!
0544 The planks looked warped! and see those sails,
0545 How thin they are and sere!
0546 I never saw aught like to them,
0547 Unless perchance it were 
0548 Brown skeletons of leaves that lag
0549 My forest-brook along;
0550 When the ivy-tod is heavy with snow,
0551 And the owlet whoops to the wolf below,
0552 That eats the she-wolf's young.' 
0553 'Dear Lord! it hath a fiendish look -
0554 (The Pilot made reply)
0555 I am a-feared' - 'Push on, push on!'
0556 Said the Hermit cheerily. 
0557 The boat came closer to the ship,
0558 But I nor spake nor stirred;
0559 The host came close beneath the ship,
0560 And straight a sound was heard. 
0561 Under the water it rumbled on,
0562 Still louder and more dread:
0563 It reached the ship, it split the bay;
0564 The ship went down like lead. 
0565 Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound,
0566 Which sky and ocean smote,
0567 Like one that hath been seven days drowned
0568 My body lay afloat;
0569 But swift as dreams, myself I found
0570 Within the Pilot's boat. 
0571 Upon the whirl, where sank the ship,
0572 The boat spun round and round;
0573 And all was still, save that the hill
0574 Was telling of the sound. 
0575 I moved my lips - the Pilot shrieked
0576 And fell down in a fit;
0577 The holy Hermit raised his eyes,
0578 And prayed where he did sit. 
0579 I took the oars: the Pilot's boy,
0580 Who now doth crazy go,
0581 Laughed loud and long, and all the while
0582 His eyes went to and fro.
0583 'Ha! ha!' quoth he, 'full plain I see,
0584 The Devil knows how to row.' 
0585 And now, all in my own countree,
0586 I stood on the firm land!
0587 The Hermit stepped forth from the boat,
0588 And scarcely he could stand. 
0589 'O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!'
0590 The Hermit crossed his brow.
0591 'Say quick,' quoth he, 'I bid thee say -
0592 What manner of man art thou?' 
0593 Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched
0594 With a woeful agony,
0595 Which forced me to begin my tale;
0596 And then it left me free. 
0597 Since then, at an uncertain hour,
0598 The agony returns:
0599 And till my ghastly tale is told,
0600 This heart within me burns. 
0601 I pass, like night, from land to land;
0602 I have strange power of speech;
0603 That moment that his face I see,
0604 I know the man that must hear me:
0605 To him my tale I teach. 
0606 What loud uproar bursts from that door!
0607 The wedding-guests are there:
0608 But in the garden-bower the bride
0609 And bride-maids singing are:
0610 And hark the little vesper bell,
0611 Which biddeth me to prayer! 
0612 O Wedding-Guest! this soul hath been
0613 Alone on a wide wide sea:
0614 So lonely 'twas, that God himself
0615 Scarce seemed there to be. 
0616 O sweeter than the marriage-feast,
0617 'Tis sweeter far to me,
0618 To walk together to the kirk
0619 With a goodly company! - 
0620 To walk together to the kirk,
0621 And all together pray,
0622 While each to his great Father bends,
0623 Old men, and babes, and loving friends
0624 And youths and maidens gay! 
0625 Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
0626 To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
0627 He prayeth well, who loveth well
0628 Both man and bird and beast. 
0629 He prayeth best, who loveth best
0630 All things both great and small;
0631 For the dear God who loveth us,
0632 He made and loveth all. 
0633 The Mariner, whose eye is bright,
0634 Whose beard with age is hoar,
0635 Is gone: and now the Wedding-Guest
0636 Turned from the bridegroom's door. 
0637 He went like one that hath been stunned,
0638 And is of sense forlorn:
0639 A sadder and a wiser man,
0640 He rose the morrow morn. 