as described in lines 381?84.
4. Usually glossed as St. Elmo's fire?an atmospheric electricity on a ship's mast or rigging?
believed by superstitious sailors to portend disas
ter. Possibly the reference is instead to phospho
rescence resulting from the decomposition of
organic matter in the sea (see line 123).
/ 433
.
43 4 / SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
A spirit had followed them; one of the invisible inhabitants of this planet, neither departed souls iwr angels; concerningwhom the learned Jew, Josephus, and the numerous, and there is
The shipmates, in
their sore distress,
would fain throw the
whole guilt on the
ancient Mariner: in
sign whereof they
hang the dead sea
bird round his neck.
The ancient Mariner
beholdeth a sign in
the element afar off .
At its nearer approach, it seemeth him to be a ship; and at a dear ransom he freeth his speech from the bonds of thirst.
A flash of joy;
5. Knew. 6. A supernatural being that supervises the natu-7. Great thanks; from the French grand-merci. ral elements (but Coleridge may in fact have been
And some in dreams assured were
Of the spirit that plagued us so;
Nine fathom deep he had followed us
From the land of mist and snow.
Platonic Constantinopolitan, Michael Psellus, may be consulted. They are veryno climate or element without one or more.
And every tongue, through utter drought,
Was withered at the root;
We could not speak, no more than if
We had been choked with soot. Ah! well-a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.
Part 3
There passed a weary time. Each throat
Was parched, and glazed each eye.
A weary time! a weary time!
How glazed each weary eye,
When looking westward, I beheld
A something in the sky. At first it seemed a little speck,
And then it seemed a mist;
It moved and moved, and took at last
A certain shape, I wist.5 A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist!
And still it neared and neared:
As if it dodged a water-sprite,6
