And forward bends his head,
The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
And southward aye7 we fled.
And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold:
4. I.e., the Mariner has gained control of the will 5. Church. of the wedding guest by hypnosis?or, as it was 6. The ship had reached the equator.
called in Coleridge's time, by 'mesmerism.' 7. Always.
.
43 2 / SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
The land of ice, and of fearful sounds where no tiring thing was to be seen.
Till a great sea-bird, called the Albatross, came through the snow-fog, and was received with greatjoy and hospitality .
And Io! the Albatross prcn'eth a bird of good omen, andfolloweth the ship as it returned northward through fog and floating ice.
The ancient Mariner inhospitably killeth the pious bird of good omen.
8. Knew. 9. Swoon. And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald. And through the drifts the snowy clifts
Did send a dismal sheen:
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken8?
The ice was all between. 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!9 At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name. It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through! And a good south wind sprung up behind;
The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariners' hollo!
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,1
It perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white moon-shine.'
'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.
Part 2
The Sun now rose upon the right:2
Out of the sea came he,
Still hid in mist, and on the left 85
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 mariners' hollo!
2. Having rounded Cape Horn, the ship heads north into the Pacific.
