The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (originally The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere) is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, written in 1797–98 and published in 1798 in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads. Modern editions use a later revised version printed in 1817 that featured a gloss (a brief explanatory note). Along with other poems in Lyrical Ballads, it was a signal shift to modern poetry and the beginning of British Romantic literature. Quotes on this page are from the 1817 edition.

The Mariner hath his will.

The poem consists of a frame story wherein an elderly sailor— the titular “ancient mariner” —relates his travels and misfortunes, some of them supernatural, to a passing wedding guest.

The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around…

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.

With my cross-bow
I shot the Albatross.

Part I

• It is an ancient Mariner,
  And he stoppeth one of three.
  "By thy long gray beard and glittering eye,
  Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?"
  • Stanza 1.

• The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide,
  And I am next of kin;
  The guests are met, the feast is set:
  May'st hear the merry din.
  • Stanza 2.

• He holds him with his glittering eye —
  The Wedding-Guest stood still,
  And listens like a three years child:
  The Mariner hath his will.
  • Stanza 4.

• The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared,
  Merrily did we drop
  Below the kirk, below the hill,
  Below the light-house top.
  • Stanza 6.

• The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
  For he heard the loud bassoon.
  • Stanza 8.

• The bride hath paced into the hall,
  Red as a rose is she.
  • Stanza 9.

• And now there came both mist and snow,
  And it grew wondrous cold:
  And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
  As green as emerald.
  • Stanza 13.

• 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!
  • Stanza 15.

• 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.
  • Stanza 16.

• ( In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
  It perched for vespers nine;
  Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
  Glimmered the white Moon-shine.
  • Stanza 19.

• "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.
  • Stanza 20.

Part II

Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.

The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free:
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silent sea.

Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.

• And I had done an 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!
  • Stanza 3.

• The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
  The furrow followed free:
  We were the first that ever burst
  Into that silent sea.
  • Stanza 5.

• Day after day, day after day,
  We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
  As idle as a painted ship
  Upon a painted ocean.
  • Stanza 8.

• Water, water, every where,
  And all the boards did shrink;
  Water, water, every where,
  Nor any drop to drink.
  • Stanza 9.

• The very deep did rot: O Christ!
  That ever this should be!
  Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs
  Upon the slimy sea.
  • Stanza 10.

• About, about, in reel and rout
  The death fires danced at night.
  • Stanza 11.

• Instead of the cross, the Albatross
  About my neck was hung.
  • Stanza 14.

Part III

The Night-Mare Life-in-Death was she,
Who thicks man's blood with cold.

• I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,
  And cried, A sail! a sail!
  • Stanza 4.

• Without a breeze, without a tide,
  She steadies with upright keel.
  • Stanza 6.

• Her lips were red, her looks were free,
  Her locks were yellow as gold:
  Her skin was as white as leprosy,
  The Night-Mare Life-in-Death was she,
  Who thicks man's blood with cold.
  • Stanza 11.

• "The game is done! I've won, I've won!"
  Quoth she, and whistles thrice.
  • Stanza 12.

• The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out:
  At one stride comes the dark;
  With far-heard whisper, o'er the sea.
  Off shot the spectre-bark.
  • Stanza 13.

• We listened and looked sideways up!
  Fear at my heart, as at a cup,
  My life-blood seemed to sip!
  • Stanza 14.

• The hornèd Moon, with one bright star
  Within the nether tip.
  • Stanza 14.

• One after one, by the star-dogged Moon,
  Too quick for groan or sigh,
  Each turned his face with a ghastly pang,
  And cursed me with his eye.
  • Stanza 15.

Part IV

The many men, so beautiful!
And they all dead did lie:
And a thousand thousand slimy things
Lived on; and so did I.

Beyond the shadow of the ship,
I watched the water-snakes…

They coiled and swam; and every track
Was a flash of golden fire.

O happy living things! no tongue
Their beauty might declare:
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
And I blessed them unaware:
Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
And I blessed them unaware.

• I fear thee, ancient Mariner!
  I fear thy skinny hand!
  And thou art long, and lank, and brown,
  As is the ribbed sea-sand.
  • Stanza 1; Coleridge states: "For these lines I am indebted to Mr. Wordsworth."

• Alone, alone, all, all alone,
  Alone on a wide wide sea!
  And never a saint took pity on
  My soul in agony.
  • Stanza 3.

• The many men, so beautiful!
  And they all dead did lie:
  And a thousand thousand slimy things
  Lived on; and so did I.
  • Stanza 4.

• An orphan's curse would drag to Hell
  A spirit from on high;
  But oh! more horrible than that
  Is a curse in a dead man's eye!
  Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,
  And yet I could not die.
  • Stanza 9.

• The moving Moon went up the sky,
  And no where did abide:
  Softly she was going up,
  And a star or two beside.
  • Stanza 10.

• Beyond the shadow of the ship,
  I watched the water-snakes:
  They moved in tracks of shining white,
  And when they reared, the elfish light
  Fell off in hoary flakes.
  • Stanza 12.

• Within the shadow of the ship
  I watched their rich attire:
  Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,
  They coiled and swam; and every track
  Was a flash of golden fire.
  • Stanza 13.

• O happy living things! no tongue
  Their beauty might declare:
  A spring of love gushed from my heart,
  And I blessed them unaware:
  Sure my kind saint took pity on me,
  And I blessed them unaware.
  • Stanza 15.

• The self-same moment I could pray;
  And from my neck so free
  The Albatross fell off, and sank
  Like lead into the sea.
  • Stanza 16.

Part V

• Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing,
  Beloved from pole to pole.
  • Stanza 1.

• We were a ghastly crew.
  • Stanza 11.

• 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.
  • Stanza 17.

• 'Is it he?' quoth one, 'Is this the man?'
  By him who died on the cross,
  With his cruel bow he laid full low
  The harmless Albatross
  • Stanza 23

• The spirit who bideth by himself
  In the land of mist and snow,
  He loved the bird that loved the man
  That shot him with his bow.
  • Stanza 24

• The man hath penance done,
  And penance more will do.
  • Stanza 25.

Part VI

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.

• Like one that on a lonesome road
  Doth walk in fear and dread,
  And having once turned round walks on,
  And turns no more his head;
  Because he knows, a frightful fiend
  Doth close behind him tread.
  • Stanza 10.

• Is this the hill? is this the kirk?
  Is this mine own countree?
  • Stanza 14.

• 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.
  • Stanza 17.

• No voice; but oh! the silence sank
  Like music on my heart.
  • Stanza 22.

Part VII

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.

• And the owlet whoops to the wolf below,
  That eats the she-wolf's young.
  • Stanza 5.

• "Ha! ha!" quoth he, "full plain I see,
  The Devil knows how to row."
  • Stanza 12.

• So lonely 't was, that God himself
  Scarce seemed there to be.
  • Stanza 19.

• Farewell, farewell! but this I tell
  To thee, thou Wedding-Guest!
  He prayeth well, who loveth well
  Both man and bird and beast.
  • Stanza 22.

• He prayeth best, who loveth best
  All things both great and small;
  For the dear God who loveth us,
  He made and loveth all.
  • Stanza 23.

• 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.

  He went like one that hath been stunned,
  And is of sense forlorn:
  A sadder and a wiser man,
  He rose the morrow morn.

  • Stanza 24-25.

External links

• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, text from Project Gutenberg
• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, audiobook (Jane Aker) from Project Gutenberg
• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, audiobook (Kristin Luoma) from LibriVox
• Abstracts of literary criticism of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner