1. Rope supporting the mast.
.
His shipmates cry out against the ancient Mariner, for killingthe bird of good luck.
But when the fog cleared off , they justify the same, and thus make themselves accomplices in the
The fair breeze con
tinues; the ship
enters the Pacific
Ocean, and sails
northward, even till
it reaches the Line.3
The ship hath been
suddenly becalmed.
And the Albatross begins to be avenged.
THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER
And I had done a hellish thing,
And it would work 'em woe:
For all averred, I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow.
Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,
That made the breeze to blow! Nor dim nor red, like God's own head,
The glorious Sun uprist:
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. The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea. Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,
Twas sad as sad could be;
And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea! All in a hot and copper sky,
The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon. Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean. Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink. The very deep did rot: O Christ!
That ever this should be!
Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
Upon the slimy sea. About, about, in reel and rout
The death-fires4 danced at night;
The water, like a witch's oils,
Burnt green, and blue and white.
3. I.e., the equator. Unless it is simply an error (Coleridge misreading his own poem), this gloss
anticipates the ship's later arrival at the equator,
on its trip north from the region of the South Pole,
