THE ANCIENT MARINER.-S. T. COLERIDGE. SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE was born in Devon in 1772, and was educated at Christ's Hospital and Cambridge University. He was a poet of high genius, but did not produce much. He was also an exquisite prose writer. He died in 1834. IT is an ancient Mariner, And he stoppeth one of three. "By thy long gray beard and glittering eye, The Bridegroom's doors are open wide, The guests are met, the feast is set: He holds him with his glittering eye- The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone- And thus spake on that ancient man, The bright-eyed Mariner : "The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared, Merrily did we drop Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the lighthouse top. The sun came up upon the left, Out of the sea came he! And he shone bright, and on the right Went down into the sea. Higher and higher every day, Till over the mast at noon" The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, The Bride hath paced into the hall; Nodding their heads before her goes The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, "And now the storm-blast came, and he He struck with his o'ertaking wings, With sloping masts and dipping prow, And forward bends his head, The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, And now there came both mist and snow, And ice, mast high, came floating by, And through the drifts the snowy clifts Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken- The ice was here, the ice was there, The ice was all around: It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, Like noises in a swound! At length did cross an Albatross,1 As if it had been a Christian soul, It ate the food it ne'er had eat, And a good south wind sprung up behind; And every day, for food or play, Came to the mariner's hollo! In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud, Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white, "God save thee, ancient Mariner, From the fiends that plague thee thus! Why look'st thou so ?" "With my cross-bow I shot the Albatross . . And I had done a hellish thing, And it would work 'em woe; 'Ah, wretch!' said they, 'the bird to slay, Nor dim nor red, like God's own head, 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. • ... Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down, 'Twas sad as sad could be; And we did speak only to break Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean. Was parched, and glazed each eye. A weary time! a weary time! How glazed each weary eye, At first it seemed a little speck, It moved and moved, and took at last 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. See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more! Without a breeze, without a tide, She steadies with upright keel! The western wave was all a-flame, When that strange shape drove suddenly And straight the Sun was flecked with bars, (Heaven's Mother send us grace!) As if through a dungeon grate he peered Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud) Are those her sails glance in the Sun, Are those her ribs through which the Sun And is that Woman all her crew? Is Death that Woman's mate?. ... • The naked hull alongside came, And the twain were casting dice ;'The game is done! I've won, I've won!' Quoth she, and whistles thrice. The Sun's rim dips-the stars rush out- The stars were dim, and thick the night, Till clomb above the eastern bar Four times fifty living men (And I heard nor sign nor groan), With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, They dropped down one by one. The souls did from their bodies fly,— And every soul, it passed me by, The many men, so beautiful! And they all dead did lie: And a thousand thousand slimy things I looked upon the rotting sea, I looked to heaven, and tried to pray; The moving Moon went up the sky, Softly she was going up, And a star or two beside..... |