T For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky,1 And the dead were at my feet. "The cold sweat melted from their limbs, The look with which they looked on me "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, "The moving Moon went up the sky, And nowhere did abide: Softly she was going up, 31. Can you see any for the unusual length? in the next line? reason for the repetition in this line, and Does it suggest the load and the weariness "Her beams bemock'd the sultry main, Like April hoar-frost spread; But where the ship's huge shadow lay, "Beyond the shadow of the ship, They moved in tracks of shining white, "Within the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire: Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, "O happy living things! no tongue A spring of love gushed from my heart, Sure my kind saint took pity on me, "The selfsame moment I could pray; And from my neck so free The Albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea." 32. This is the turning point of the poem. As soon as the mariner felt in his heart love for the "happy living things," the spell which had been laid on him for the wanton slaying of the albatross began to break. In the third stanza from the end of the poem, this point is clearly brought out. PART V SLEEP! it is a gentle thing, "Beloved from pole to pole! To Mary Queen the praise be given! She sent the gentle sleep from heaven, That slid into my soul. "The silly33 buckets on the deck, That had so long remained, I dreamt that they were filled with dew; And when I awoke, it rained. "My lips were wet, my throat was cold, My garments all were dank; Sure I had drunken in my dreams, "I moved, and could not feel my limbs: I was so light-almost I thought that I had died in sleep, "And soon I heard a roaring wind: But with its sound it shook the sails, 34 "The upper air burst into life! 33. Silly here means helpless, useless. "And the coming wind did roar more loud, And the sails did sigh like sedge:35 And the rain poured down from one black cloud: The Moon was at its edge. THEY GROANED, THEY STIRRED, THEY ALL UPROSE "The thick black cloud was cleft, and still The Moon was at its side: Like waters shot from some high crag, 35. Note this fine alliterative line. " The lightning fell with never a jag, "The loud wind never reached the ship, Beneath the lightning and the Moon "They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose, It had been strange, even in a dream, "The helmsman steered; the ship moved on; The mariners all 'gan work the ropes, They raised their limbs like lifeless tools- "The body of my brother's son The body and I pulled at one rope, "I fear thee, ancient Mariner!" "Be calm, thou Wedding-guest! "Twas not those souls that fled in pain, Which to their corses came again, But a troop of spirits blest: "For when it dawned-they dropped their arms, Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths, |