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The Rime of the
Ancient Mariner
IN SEVEN PARTS
Illustrations by Gustave Doré
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Part II
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- "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,
- Nor any day for food or
play
- Came to the mariner's
hollo!
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Plate 8: I shot the Albatross
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His ship-mates cry out against the ancient mariner, for killing the bird of good luck.
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- And I had done a
hellish thing,
- And it would work ém
woe:
- For all averred, 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!'
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But when the fog cleared off, they justify the same, and thus make themselves accomplices in the crime.
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- 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.'
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The fair breeze continues; the ship enters the Pacific Ocean, and sails northward, even till it reaches the Line.
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- The fair breeze blew,
the white foam flew,
- The furrow followed
free;
- We were the first that
ever burst
- Into that silent sea.
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Plate 9: I had done a hellish thing
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The ship hath been suddenly becalmed.
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- 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,
- 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.
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Plate 10: Water, water, every where
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And the Albatross begins to be avenged.
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- Water, water, every
where,
- And all the boards did
shrink;
- Water, water, every
where,
- Nor any drop to drink.
- The very deep did rot:
O 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.
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Plate 11: The Death-Fires Danced at Night
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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.
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- And some in dreams
assuréd were
- Of the Spirit that
plagued us so;
- 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;
- We could not speak, no
more than if
- We had been choked with
soot.
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The ship-mates in their sore distress, would fain throw the whole guilt on the ancient Mariner: in sign of which they hang the dead sea-bird round his neck.
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- Ah! well a-day! what
evil looks
- Had I from old and
young!
- Instead of the cross,
the Albatross
- About my neck was hung.
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Part III
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The ancient Mariner beholdeth a sign in the element afar off.
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- "There passed a weary
time. Each throat
- Was parched, and glazed
each eye.
- A weary time! a weary
time!
- How glazed each weary
eye,
- When looking westward,
I beheld
- A something in the sky.
- 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 wist.
- 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 veered.
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Plate 12: Nine fathom deep he had followed us
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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.
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- 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,
- And cried, 'A sail! a
sail!'
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A flash of joy;
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- With throats unslaked,
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.
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And horror follows. For can it be a ship that comes onward without wind or tide?
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- 'See! see! (I cried)
she tacks no more!
- Hither to work us weal;
- Without a breeze,
without a tide,
- She steadies with
upright keel!'
- 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.
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 Plate 13: The Death Ship Nears
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It seemeth him but the skeleton of a ship.
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- 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.
- 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
gossameres?
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And its ribs are seen as bars on the face of the setting eun. The Spectre- Woman and her Death-mate, and no other on board the skeleton-ship. Like vessel, like crew!
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- 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?
- 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,
- The Night-mare
Life-in-death was she,
- Who thicks man's blood
with cold.
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 Plate 14: The Game is Done!
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Death and Life-in-Death have diced for the ship's crew, and she (the latter) winneth the ancient Mariner.
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- The naked hulk
alongside came,
- And the twain were
casting dice;
- 'The game is done! I've
won! I've won!'
- Quoth she, and whistles
thrice.
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No twilight within the courts of the Sun.
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- The Sun's rim dips; the
stars rush out;
- At one stride comes the
dark;
- With far-heard whisper,
oér the sea,
- Off shot the spectre-bark.
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At the rising of the Moon,.
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- We listened and looked
sideways up!
- Fear at my heart, as at
a cup,
- 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--
- Till clomb above the
eastern bar
- The hornéd Moon, with
one bright star
- Within the nether tip.
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 Plate 15: Each cursed me with his eye
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One after another,
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- One after one, by the
star-dogged Moon,
- Too quick for groan or
sigh,
- Each turned his face
with a ghastly pang,
- And cursed me with his
eye.
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His ship-mates drop down dead.
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- Four times fifty living
men,
- (And I heard nor sigh
nor groan)
- With heavy thump, a
lifeless lump,
- They dropped down one
by one.
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But Life-in-Death begins her work on the ancient mariner.
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- The souls did from
their bodies fly,--
- They fled to bliss or
woe!
- And every soul, it
passed me by,
- Like the whizz of my
cross-bow!"
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Part IV
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The Wedding-Guest feareth that a Spirit is talking to him.
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- "I fear thee, ancient
Mariner!
- I fear thy skinny hand!
- And thou art long, and
lank, and brown,
- As is the ribbed
sea-sand.
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But the ancient Mariner asureth him of his bodily life, and proceedeth to relate his horrible penance.
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- I fear thee and thy
glittering eye,
- And thy skinny hand, so
brown."--
- "Fear not, fear not,
thou Wedding-Guest!
- This body dropt not
down.
- Alone, alone, all, all
alone,
- Alone on a wide wide
sea!
- And never a saint took
pity on
- My soul in agony.
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Plate 16: No saint took pity
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He despiseth the creatures of the calm.
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- The many men, so
beautiful!
- And they all dead did
lie:
- And a thousand thousand
slimy things
- Lived on; and so did I.
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And envieth that they should live, and so many lie dead.
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- I looked upon the
rotting sea,
- 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;
- But or 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,
- And the balls like
pulses beat;
- For the sky and the
sea, and the sea and the sky
- Lay dead like a load on
my weary eye,
- And the dead were at my
feet.
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 Plate 17: I looked upon the rotting sea
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But the curse liveth for him in the eyes of the dead men.
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- 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.
- 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!
- Seven days, seven
nights, I saw that curse--
- And yet I could not
die.
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In his loneliness and fixedness he yearneth toward the journeying Moon, and the stars, that still sojourn, yet still move onward; and everywhere the blue sky belongs to them, and is 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.
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- The moving Moon went up
the sky,
- And no where did abide:
- Softly she was going
up,
- And a star or two
beside.
- Her beams benocked the
sultry main,
- Like April hoar-frost
spread;
- But where the ship's
huge shadow lay,
- The charm-ed water
burnt alway
- A still and awful red.
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 Plate 18: And yet I could not die
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By the light of the
Moon he beholdeth God's creatures of the great calm.
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- Beyond the shadow of
the ship,
- I watched the
water-snakes:
- They moved in tracks of
shining white,
- And when they reared,
the elfish light
- Fell off in hoary
flakes.
- Within the shadow of
the ship
- I watched their rich
attire:
- Blue, glossy green, and
velvet black,
- They coiled and swam;
and every track
- Was a flash of golden
fire.
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Their beauth and their happiness.
He blesseth them in his heart.
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- O happy living things!
no tongue
- Their beauty might
declare:
- A spring of love gushed
from my heart,
- And I blessed them
unaware:
- Sure my kind saint took
pity on me,
- And I blessed them
unaware.
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The spell begins to break.
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- The self-same moment I
could pray;
- And from my neck so
free
- The Albatross fell off,
and sank
- Like lead into the sea.
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