"Brown skeletons of leaves that lag

My forest brook along;

When the ivy-tod is heavy with snow,

And the owlet whoops to the wolf below,
That eats the she-wolf's young."

535

The ship suddenly Under the water it rumbled on,

sinketh.

Still louder and more dread:

It reached the ship, it split the bay;
The ship went down like lead.

540

54.5

The ancient Mari- Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound, 550

ner is saved in the Pilot's boat.

Which sky and ocean smote,

Like one that hath been seven days drowned

My body lay afloat;

But swift as dreams, myself I found
Within the Pilot's boat.

Upon the whirl where sank the ship,
The boat spun round and round;
And all was still, save that the hill
Was telling of the sound.

555

I moved my lips - the Pilot shrieked
And fell down in a fit;

560

The holy Hermit raised his eyes,

And prayed where he did sit.

I took the oars: the Pilot's boy,
Who now doth crazy go,

Laughed loud and long, and all the while

His eyes went to and fro.

"Ha! ha!" quoth he, "full plain I see,
The Devil knows how to row."

565

And now,

all in my own countree,

570

I stood on the firm land!

The Hermit stepped forth from the boat,
And scarcely he could stand.

"O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!"
The Hermit crossed his brow.

"Say quick,” quoth he, “I bid thee say —
What manner of man art thou?”

575

Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched
With a woeful agony,

Which forced me to begin my tale;

580

And then it left me free.

Since then, at an uncertain hour,
That agony returns:

And, till my ghastly tale is told,
This heart within me burns.

I pass, like night, from land to land;
I have strange power of speech;
That moment that his face I see,

I know the man that must hear me:

To him my tale I teach.

What loud uproar bursts from that door!

The wedding-guests are there:

But in the garden-bower the bride

585

590

And bridemaids singing are:

While each to his great Father bends,
Old men, and babes, and loving friends,
And youths and maidens gay!

Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou Wedding-guest!
He prayeth well, who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast.

He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.

The Mariner, whose eye is bright,
Whose beard with age is hoar,

Is gone and now the Wedding-guest
Turned from the bridegroom's door.

610

615

620

He went like one that hath been stunned, 22

NOTES.

TRANSLATION FROM ARCHEOL. PHIL. T. BURNET.

I can easily credit the belief that there are in the universe more invisible than visible existences. But who will reveal to us the estate of them all-their grades, relations, peculiarities, and gifts? What are they doing? What places do they inhabit? The human mind circles about the knowledge of these things, but never attains to it. In the meantime, I confess, it is pleasant sometimes to meditate on the picture, painted on the mind as on a tablet, of a greater or smaller sphere; that the intellect, accustomed to the trivial affairs of daily life, may not grow narrow and drop down wholly into puerile thoughts. But, meanwhile, the truth must be vigilantly sought, its limitations being kept in mind, that we may distinguish between certainty and uncertainty, between day and night.

The Glosses. The marginal readings were an afterthought of the author, but should be read with the text, in explanation of the author's idea of the poem.

Wordsworth suggested a few lines near the beginning of the poem.

Ex. gr.

"And listens like a three years' child:

The Mariner had his will."

And, in Part IV.,

Line 12.

Line 14.

"And thou art long, and lank, and brown,

As is the ribbed sea sand."

"Eftsoons." Immediately, quickly.

"The Wedding-guest." Such a listener makes, by con

trast, the tale of the "Ancient Mariner 99 more effective.

Line 18. "He cannot choose but hear." Repeated in line 38. For the reason, see lines 586-590.

Line 30. "Till over the mast at noon."

a ship when the sun casts no shadow at noon?

poem

47

What is the position of

Line 47. "Still treads the shadow of his foe." The "foe" would be between the sun and the person pursued, and very near his victim. Line 63. "An Albatross.” Describe the bird. Where is it found

in large numbers?

Line 82. "I shot the Albatross." Is this act of the Ancient Mariner an offense deserving such a terrible punishment as the poet brings upon him? To settle this question, consider the sailors' superstition that the bird has relations with spirits, good and bad; that the Ancient Mariner shot it wantonly; that, in so doing, he violated the laws of hospitality, and that it was a cruel thing to do. The poet, however, while using the Ancient Mariner's crime for poetic and moral purposes, does not necessarily declare that the act deserves the penalty inflicted.

Line 121.

"Water, water, everywhere,
Nor any drop to drink."

Compare with the story of Tantalus in ancient mythology.

Line 123. "The very deep did rot."

but not putrid.

Line 129.

Scene 1.

Water may become fetid,

"Like a witch's oils." Compare "Macbeth," Act IV.,

Line 132. "Of the spirit that plagued us so." What connection had this spirit with the Albatross ?

Read the gloss.

Line 141.

"Instead of the cross, the Albatross

About my neck was hung."

Notice that the Albatross is also introduced in the closing stanzas of Parts I., IV., and VI. This is done to keep the Ancient Mariner's consciousness of his crime continually before the reader's mind.

Line 164. "Gramercy!" (Grand-merci.) Many thanks.
Line 188.

"Is that a Death? and are there two?" Compare Milton's "Paradișe Lost,” II. 666–673.

There is a paint

Line 196. “And the twain were casting dice." ing, by a famous artist, of the devil and a young man playing a game of chess for the youth's soul. But near the young man, unseen by his antagonist, is the shadowy form of his guardian angel. We shall see that the Ancient Mariner's patron saint had not deserted him in his extremity.

Line 198. Coleridge wrote another stanza to follow line 198:

"A gust of wind sterte up behind,

And whistled through his bones:

Through the holes of his eyes and the hole of his mouth,
Half whistles and half groans.”