describes 9. Warbling (Middle English).
in the gloss beside lines 13 1-34).
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44 0 / SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
The lonesome spiritfrom the soiith-polecarries on the ship as far as the line, in
obedience to the angelic troop, but
still requireth
vengeance.
The Polar Spirit's fellow daemons, the invisible inhabitants of the element, take part in his wrong; and two of them relate, one to the other, that penancelong and heavy for the ancient Mariner hath been accorded to the Polar Spirit, who retunteth southward.
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
Singeth a quiet tune. Till noon we quietly sailed on,
Yet never a breeze did breathe:
Slowly and smoothly went the ship,
Moved onward from beneath. 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 motion-?
Backwards and forwards half her length
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. How long in that same fit I lay,
I have not1 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,
And penance more will do.'
1. I.e., have not the knowledge.
The Mariner hath been cast into a trance; for the angelic power causeth the vessel to drive northward fas
ter than human life could endure.
