History of Literature









 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

 

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"


 

Illustrations by Gustave Dore


 

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner IN SEVEN PARTS Illustrations by Gustave Doré       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, Nor any day for food or play Came to the mariner's hollo!     Plate 8: I shot the Albatross   His ship-mates cry out against the ancient mariner, for killing the bird of good luck. 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!'   But when the fog cleared off, they justify the same, and thus make themselves accomplices in the crime. 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 continues; the ship enters the Pacific Ocean, and sails northward, even till it reaches the Line. The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea.     Plate 9: I had done a hellish thing   The ship hath been suddenly becalmed. 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.     Plate 10: Water, water, every where   And the Albatross begins to be avenged. 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.     Plate 11: The Death-Fires Danced at Night 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. 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.   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. Ah! well a-day! what evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung.     Part III The ancient Mariner beholdeth a sign in the element afar off. "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.     Plate 12: Nine fathom deep he had followed us 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. 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!'   A flash of joy; 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.   And horror follows. For can it be a ship that comes onward without wind or tide? '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.     Plate 13: The Death Ship Nears   It seemeth him but the skeleton of a ship. 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?   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! 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.     Plate 14: The Game is Done!   Death and Life-in-Death have diced for the ship's crew, and she (the latter) winneth the ancient Mariner. 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.   No twilight within the courts of the Sun. 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.   At the rising of the Moon,. 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.     Plate 15: Each cursed me with his eye   One after another, 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.   His ship-mates drop down dead. Four times fifty living men, (And I heard nor sigh nor groan) With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, They dropped down one by one.   But Life-in-Death begins her work on the ancient mariner. 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!"     Part IV The Wedding-Guest feareth that a Spirit is talking to him. "I fear thee, ancient Mariner! I fear thy skinny hand! And thou art long, and lank, and brown, As is the ribbed sea-sand.   But the ancient Mariner asureth him of his bodily life, and proceedeth to relate his horrible penance. 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.     Plate 16: No saint took pity   He despiseth the creatures of the calm. The many men, so beautiful! And they all dead did lie: And a thousand thousand slimy things Lived on; and so did I.   And envieth that they should live, and so many lie dead. 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.     Plate 17: I looked upon the rotting sea   But the curse liveth for him in the eyes of the dead men. 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.   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. 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.     Plate 18: And yet I could not die   By the light of the Moon he beholdeth God's creatures of the great calm. 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.   Their beauth and their happiness. He blesseth them in his heart. 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.   The spell begins to break. The self-same moment I could pray; And from my neck so free The Albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea.