1 And soon I heard a roaring wind :
It did not come anear :
But with its sound it shook the sails,
That were so thin and sere.

The upper air burst into life!
And a hundred fire-flags sheen,
To and fro they were hurried about!
And to and fro, and in and out,
The wan stars danced between.

And the coming wind did roar more

loud, And the sails did sigh like sedge; And the rain poured down from one

black cloud ; The Moon was at its edge.

The thick black cloud was cleft, and still
The Moon was at its side:
Like waters shot from some high crag,
The lightning fell with never a jag,
A river steep and wide.
2 The loud wind never reached the

ship,
Yet now the ship moved on !
Beneath the lightning and the Moon
The dead men gave a groan.
They groaned, they stirred, they all up-

rose, Nor spake, nor moved their eyes ; It had been strange, even in a dream, To have seen those dead men rise. The helmsman steered, the ship moved

on ; Yet never a breeze up blew; The mariners all’gan work the ropes, Where they were wont to do ; They raised their limbs like lifeless

tools We were a ghastly crew, The body of my brother's son Stood by me, knee to knee : The boily and I pulled at one rope But he said nought to me.”86 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, And clustered round the mast; Sweet sounds rose slowly through their

mouths, And from their bodies passed. Around, around, flew each sweet sound, Then darted to the Sun ; Slowly the sounds came back again, Now mixed, now one by one. Sometimes a-tropping from the sky I heard the sky-lark sing ; Sometimes all little birds that are, How they seemed to fill the sea and ai With their sweet jargoning ! And now 'twas like all instruments, Now like a lovely fute ; And now it is an angel's song, That makes the heavens be mute. It ceased ; yet still the sails made on A pleasant noise till noon, A noise like of a hidden brook In the leafy month of June, That to the sleeping woods all night Singetha quiet tune. Till noon we quietly sailed on, Yet never a breeze did breathe : Slowly and smoothly went the ship, Moved onward from beneath. 1 Under the keel nine fathom deep, From the land of mist and snow, The spirit slid : and it was he That made the ship to go. The sails at noon left off their tune, And the ship stood still also. The Sun, right up above the mast, Had fixed her to the ocean : But in a minute she 'gan stir', With a short uneasy motionBackwards and forwards half her lengt! With a short uneasy motion. Then like a pawing horse let go, She made a sudden bound : It flung the blood into my head, And I fell down in a swound.

a

"le heareth sounds and seeth strange sights and commotions in the sky and the element.

The bodies of the ship's crew are inspired, and the ship moves on ;

6

1 How long in that same fit I lay,
I have not to declare;
But ere my living life returned,
I heard and in my soul discerned
Two voices in the air.
"Is it he?' quoth one, 'Is this the man?
By him who died on cross.
With his cruel bow he laid full low
The harmless Albatross.
The spirit who bideth by himself
In the land of mist and snow,
He loved the bird that loved the man
Who shot him with his bow.'
The other was a softer voice,
As soft as honey-dew :
Quoth he, • The man hath penance

done,
Ard penance more will do.'

Fly, brother, fly! more high, more highı ! Or we shall be belated : For slow and slow that ship will go, When the Mariner's trance is abated.' 1 I woke, and we were sailing on As in a gentle weather: 'Twas night, calm night, the Moon was

high, The dead men stood together. All stood together on the deck, For a charnel-dungeon fitter : All fixell on me their stony eyes, That in the Moon did glitter. The pang, the curse, with which they

died, Had never passed away : I could not draw my eyes from theirs, Nor turn them up to pray. 2 And now this spell was snapt : once

more I viewed the ocean green, And looked far forth, yet little saw Of what had else been seen Like one, that on a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round walks

PART VI

FIRST VOICE

"• But tell me, tell me! speak again,
Thy soft response renewing-
What makes that ship drie on so fast ?
What is the ocean doing :

SECOND VOICE

on,

‘Still as a slave before his lord,
The ocean hath no blast;
His great bright eye most silently
Up to the Moon is cast-
If he may know which way to go ;
For she guides him smooth or grim.
See, bruther, see! how graciously
She looketh down on him.'

FIRST VOICE

And turns no more his head ;
Because he knows, a frightful fiend
Dotlı close behind him tread.
But soon there breathed a wind on me,
Nor sound nor motion made :
Its path was not upon the sea,
In ripple or in shade.
It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek
Like a meadow-gale of spring-
It mingled strangely with my fears,
Yet it felt like a welcoming.
Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,
Yet she sailed softly too :
Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze,
On me alone it blew.
8 Oh ! dream of joy ! is this indeed
The light-house top I see?
Is this the bill? is this the kirk?
Is this mine own countree?

2. But wly drives on that ship so fast, Without or wave or wind ?'

SECOND VOICE · The air is cut away before, And closes from behind.

! The Polar Spirit's fellow-demons, the invisible inhabitants of the element, take part in his wrong; and two of them relate one to the other, that penance long and heavy for the ancient Mariner hath been accorded to the Polar Spirit, who returneth southward.

: The Mariner hath been cast into a trance; for the angelic power causeth the vessel to drive northward faster than human life could edure.

The rock shone bright, the kirk no less,
That stands above the rock:
The moonlight steeped in silentness
The steady weathercock.
And the bay was white with silent light
Till rising from the same,
1 Full many shapes, that shadow's were,
In crimson colors came.

26

2 A little distance from the prow

Those crimson shadows were: • I turned my eyes upon the deck

Oh, Christ! what saw I there!

Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat,
And, by the holy rood !
A man all light, a seraph-nan,
On every corse there stood.
This seraph-band, each waved his hand :
It was a heavenly sight!
They stood as signals to the land,
Each one a lovely light;
This seraph-band, each waved his hand,
No voice did they impart-
No voice ; but oh! the silence sank
Like music on my heart.

The skiff-boat neared : I heard them

talk, Whiy, this is strange, I trow ! Where are those lights so many and

fair, That signal made but now ?' 'Strange, by my faith!' the Hermit

said' And they answered not our cheer ! The planks look warped ! and see those

sails, How thin they are and sere ! I never saw aught like to them, Unless perchance it were 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 shie-wolf's young.'

Dear Lord ! it hath a fiendish look '(The Pilot made reply)

I am a-feared.'— Push on, push on !' Said the Herinit cheerily. The boat came closer to the ship, But I nor spake nor stirred ; The boat came close beneath the ship, And straight a sound was heard. 8 Under the water it rumbled on, Still louder and more dread : It reached the ship, it split the bay ; The ship went down like lead.

But soon I heard the dash of oars,
I heard the Pilot's cheer;
My bead was turned perforce away,
And I saw a boat appear.

The Pilot and the Pilot's boy,
I heard them coming fast :
Dear Lord in Heaven! it was a joy
The dead men could not blast.

I saw a third-I heard his voice :
It is the Hermit good !
He singeth loud his godly hymns
That he makes in the wood.
He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash away
The Albatross's blood.

4 Stunned by that loud and dreadful

sound, Which sky and ocean smote,

1 The angelic spirits leave the dead bodies, ? And appear in their own forms of light.

O Wedding-Guest ! this soul hath been
Alone on a wide wide sea :
So lonely, 'twas, that God himself
Scarce seemed there to be.
O sweeter than the marriage-feast,
'Tis sweeter far to me,
To walk together to the kirk,
With a goodly company!-
To walk together to the kirk,
And all together pray.
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.

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. I moved my lips—the Pilot shrieked And fell down in a fit; 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.' And now, all in my own countree, I stood on the firm land ! The Hermit stepped forth from the boat, And scarcely he could stand. 1. O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man! The Hermit crossed his brow. 'Say quick,' quoth he, 'I bid thee sayWhat manner of man art thou?', Forthwith this frame of mine was

wrenched With a woful agony, Which forced me to begin my tale ; And then it left me free. 2 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 And bride-maids singing are : And bark the little vesper bell, Which biddeth me to prayer !

He went like one that hath been

to be only four. Nevertheless this occasional variation in number of syllables is not introduced wantonly, or for the mere ends of convenience, but in correspondence with some tran. sition in the nature of the imagery or passion. (Froin Coleridge's Preface to the first edition.)

PART THE FIRST

'Tis the middle of night by the castle

clock, And the owls have awakened the crow

ing cock,
Tu-lit !––Tu-hoo!
And hark, again! the crowing cock,
How drowsily it crew.

Sir Leoline, the Baron rich,
Hath a toothless mastiff, which
From her kennel beneath the rock
Maketh answer to the clock,
Four for the quarters, and twelve for

the hour;
Ever and aye, by shine and shower,
Sixteen short howls, not over loud ;
Some say, she sees my lady's shroud.
Is the night chilly and dark ?
The niglit is chilly, but not dark.
The thin gray cloud is spread on higli,
It covers but not hides the sky.
The moon is behind, and at the full ;
And yet she looks both small and dul.
The night is chill, the cloud is gray ;
'Tis a month before the month of May.
And the Spring comes slowly up this

way. The lovely lady, Christabel, Whom her father loves so well, What makes her in the woods so late, A furlong from the castle gate? She had dreams all yesternight Of her own betrothed knight; And she in the midnight wood will pray For the weal of her lover that's far away. She stole along, she nothing spoke, The sighs she heaved were soft and low, And naught was green upon the oak But moss and rarest misletoe : She kneels beneath the huge oak tree, And in silence prayeth she. The lady sprang up suddenly, The lovely lady, Christabel ! It moaned as near, as near can be, But what it is she cannot tell.-On the other side it seems to be, Of the huge, broad-breasted, old oak

The night is chill; the forest bare;
Is it the wind that moaneth bleak?
There is not wind enough in the air
To move away the ringlet curl
From the lovely lady's cheek-
There is not wind eno to twirl
The one red leaf, the last of its clan,
That dances as often as dance it can,
Hanging so light, and hanging so high,
On the topmost twig that looks up ai

the sky.
Hush, beating heart of Christabel !
Jesui, Maria, shield her well!
She folded her arms beneath her cloak,
And stole to the other side of the oak.

What sees she there? There she sees a damsel bright, Drest in a silken robe of white, That shadowy in the moonlight shone : The neck that made the white robe

wan, Her stately neck, and arms were bare ; Her blue-veived feet unsandald were, And wildly glittered here and there The gems entangled in her hair. I guess, 'twas frightful there to see A lady so richly clad as sheBeautiful exceedingly! Mary mother, save me now! (Said Christabel) And who art thou ? The lady strange made answer meet, And her voice was faint and sweet :Have pity on my sore distress, I scarce can speak for weariness : Stretch forth thy hand, and have no

fear! Said Christabel, How camest thou here? And the lady, whose voice was faint and

sweet, Did thus pursue her answer meet: My sire is of a noble line, And my name is Geraldine : Five warriors seized me yestermorn, Me, even me, a maid forlorn : They choked my cries with force and

fright, And tied me on a palfrey white. The palfrey was as fleet as wind, And they rode furiously behind. They spurred amain, their steeds were

white: And once we crossed the shade of night, As sure as Heaven shall rescue me, I have no thought what men they bo; Nor do I know how long it is