is an ancient Mariner,

IT and he stoppeth one of three.

An ancient Mariner meeteth

"By thy long grey beard and glittering three gallants

eye,

Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?

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."

He holds him with his skinny hand, "There was a ship," quoth he.

"Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!" Eftsoons his hand dropt he.

bidden to a wedding feast, and detainethi one.

The Wedding.
Guest is spell-

bound by the
eye of the old
seafaring man,

and constrained to hear his tale,

The Mariner
tells how the
ship sailed
southward with
a good wind
and fair
weather, till it
reached the

line.

The Wedding
Guest heareth

the bridal

music; but the

Mariner continueth his tale.

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

The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone:
He cannot choose but hear;

And thus spake on that ancient man,
The bright-eyed Mariner.

"The ship was cheered, the harbour

Merrily did we drop

Below the kirk, below the hill,

Below the light-house top.

The sun came up upon the left,
Out of the sea came he!

[cleared,

And he shone bright, and on the right
Went down into the sea.

Higher and higher every day,
Till over the mast at noon-

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

The bride hath paced into the hall,
Red as a rose is she;

Nodding their heads before her goes
The merry minstrelsy.

The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast,
Yet he cannot choose but hear;
And thus spake on that ancient man
The bright-eyed Mariner.

"And now the storm-blast came, and he The ship drawn

Was tyrannous and strong:

He struck with his o'ertaking wings,

And chased us south along.

With sloping masts and dipping prow,
As who pursued with yell and blow
Still treads the shadow of his foe,
And forward bends his head,

The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast,
And southward aye we fled.

And now there came both mist and snow,
And it grew wondrous cold:

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 ken-
The ice was all between.

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

[howled,

It cracked and growled, and roared and
Like noises in a swound!

At length did cross an Albatross,
Through 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.

by a storm toward the south pole.

The land of ice, and of fearful sounds where no living thing was to be seen.

Till a great seabird, called the Albatros, came through the snow-fog, and was received with great joy and hospitality.

And lo! the Albatross proveth a bird

of good omen, aud followeth the ship as it returned north

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!

ward through In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
fog and floating It perched for vespers nine;

ice.

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?".
bow

I shot the Albatross.

"With my cross

PART II.

THE Sun now rose upon the right:

Out of the sea came he,

Still hid in mist, and on the left

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!