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diff --git a/old/rime10.txt b/old/rime10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8cafc35 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/rime10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1079 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner +*****This file should be named rime10.txt or rime10.zip****** + + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. Do not remove this. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**Etexts Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*These Etexts Prepared By Hundreds of Volunteers and Donations* + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get Etexts, and +further information is included below. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + + +THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER IN SEVEN PARTS + +BY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE + + + +PART THE FIRST. + +It is an ancient Mariner, +And he stoppeth one of three. +"By thy long grey beard and glittering 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. + +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 chuse but hear; +And thus spake on that ancient man, +The bright-eyed Mariner. + +The ship was cheered, the harbour cleared, +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! +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 chuse but hear; +And thus spake on that ancient man, +The bright-eyed Mariner. + +And now the STORM-BLAST came, and he +Was tyrannous and strong: +He struck with his o'ertaking wings, +And chased 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: +It cracked and growled, and roared and howled, +Like noises in a swound! + +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. + +It ate the food it ne'er had eat, +And round and round it flew. +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! + +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. + +"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. + + + +PART THE SECOND. + +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! + +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! + +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-fires danced at night; +The water, like a witch's oils, +Burnt green, and blue and white. + +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. + +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 THE THIRD. + +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. + +A speck, a mist, a shape, I wist! +And still it neared and neared: +As if it dodged a water-sprite, +It plunged and tacked and veered. + +With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, +We could not laugh nor wail; +Through utter drought all dumb we stood! +I bit my arm, I sucked the blood, +And cried, A sail! a sail! + +With throats unslaked, with black lips baked, +Agape they heard me call: +Gramercy! they for joy did grin, +And all at once their breath drew in, +As they were drinking all. + +See! see! (I cried) she tacks no more! +Hither to work us weal; +Without a breeze, without a tide, +She steadies with upright keel! + +The western wave was all a-flame +The day was well nigh done! +Almost upon the western wave +Rested the broad bright Sun; +When that strange shape drove suddenly +Betwixt us and the Sun. + +And straight the Sun was flecked with bars, +(Heaven's Mother send us grace!) +As if through a dungeon-grate he peered, +With broad and burning face. + +Alas! (thought I, and my heart beat loud) +How fast she nears and nears! +Are those her sails that glance in the Sun, +Like restless gossameres! + +Are those her ribs through which the Sun +Did peer, as through a grate? +And is that Woman all her crew? +Is that a DEATH? and are there two? +Is DEATH that woman's mate? + +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. + +The naked hulk alongside came, +And the twain were casting dice; +"The game is done! I've won! I've won!" +Quoth she, and whistles thrice. + +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. + +We listened and looked sideways up! +Fear at my heart, as at a cup, +My life-blood seemed to sip! + +The stars were dim, and thick the night, +The steersman's face by his lamp gleamed white; +From the sails the dew did drip-- +Till clombe above the eastern bar +The horned Moon, with one bright star +Within the nether tip. + +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. + +Four times fifty living men, +(And I heard nor sigh nor groan) +With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, +They dropped down one by one. + +The souls did from their bodies fly,-- +They fled to bliss or woe! +And every soul, it passed me by, +Like the whizz of my CROSS-BOW! + + + + +PART THE FOURTH. + +"I fear thee, ancient Mariner! +I fear thy skinny hand! +And thou art long, and lank, and brown, +As is the ribbed sea-sand. + +"I fear thee and thy glittering eye, +And thy skinny hand, so brown."-- +Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest! +This body dropt not down. + +Alone, alone, all, all alone, +Alone on a wide wide sea! +And never a saint took pity on +My soul in agony. + +The many men, so beautiful! +And they all dead did lie: +And a thousand thousand slimy things +Lived on; and so did I + +I looked upon the rotting sea, +And drew my eyes away; +I looked upon the rotting deck, +And there the dead men lay. + +I looked to Heaven, and tried to pray: +But or ever a prayer had gusht, +A wicked whisper came, and made +my heart as dry as dust. + +I closed my lids, and kept them close, +And the balls like pulses beat; +For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky +Lay like a load on my weary eye, +And the dead were at my feet. + +The cold sweat melted from their limbs, +Nor rot nor reek did they: +The look with which they looked on me +Had never passed away. + +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. + +The moving Moon went up the sky, +And no where did abide: +Softly she was going up, +And a star or two beside. + +Her beams bemocked the sultry main, +Like April hoar-frost spread; +But where the ship's huge shadow lay, +The charmed water burnt alway +A still and awful red. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The self same moment I could pray; +And from my neck so free +The Albatross fell off, and sank +Like lead into the sea. + + + + +PART THE FIFTH. + +Oh sleep! it is a gentle thing, +Beloved from pole to pole! +To Mary Queen the praise be given! +She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven, +That slid into my soul. + +The silly buckets on the deck, +That had so long remained, +I dreamt that they were filled with dew; +And when I awoke, it rained. + +My lips were wet, my throat was cold, +My garments all were dank; +Sure I had drunken in my dreams, +And still my body drank. + +I moved, and could not feel my limbs: +I was so light--almost +I thought that I had died in sleep, +And was a blessed ghost. + +And soon I heard a roaring wind: +It did not come anear; +But with its sound it shook the sails, +That were so thin and sere. + +The upper air burst into life! +And a hundred fire-flags sheen, +To and fro they were hurried about! +And to and fro, and in and out, +The wan stars danced between. + +And the coming wind did roar more loud, +And the sails did sigh like sedge; +And the rain poured down from one black cloud; +The Moon was at its edge. + +The thick black cloud was cleft, and still +The Moon was at its side: +Like waters shot from some high crag, +The lightning fell with never a jag, +A river steep and wide. + +The loud wind never reached the ship, +Yet now the ship moved on! +Beneath the lightning and the Moon +The dead men gave a groan. + +They groaned, they stirred, they all uprose, +Nor spake, nor moved their eyes; +It had been strange, even in a dream, +To have seen those dead men rise. + +The helmsman steered, the ship moved on; +Yet never a breeze up blew; +The mariners all 'gan work the ropes, +Were they were wont to do: +They raised their limbs like lifeless tools-- +We were a ghastly crew. + +The body of my brother's son, +Stood by me, knee to knee: +The body and I pulled at one rope, +But he said nought to me. + +"I fear thee, ancient Mariner!" +Be calm, thou Wedding-Guest! +'Twas not those souls that fled in pain, +Which to their corses came again, +But a troop of spirits blest: + +For when it dawned--they dropped their arms, +And clustered round the mast; +Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths, +And from their bodies passed. + +Around, around, flew each sweet sound, +Then darted to the Sun; +Slowly the sounds came back again, +Now mixed, now one by one. + +Sometimes a-dropping from the sky +I heard the sky-lark sing; +Sometimes all little birds that are, +How they seemed to fill the sea and air +With their sweet jargoning! + +And now 'twas like all instruments, +Now like a lonely flute; +And now it is an angel's song, +That makes the Heavens be mute. + +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 not 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." + + + + +PART THE SIXTH. + + +FIRST VOICE. + +But tell me, tell me! speak again, +Thy soft response renewing-- +What makes that ship drive on so fast? +What is the OCEAN doing? + + +SECOND VOICE. + +Still as a slave before his lord, +The OCEAN hath no blast; +His great bright eye most silently +Up to the Moon is cast-- + +If he may know which way to go; +For she guides him smooth or grim +See, brother, see! how graciously +She looketh down on him. + + +FIRST VOICE. + +But why drives on that ship so fast, +Without or wave or wind? + + +SECOND VOICE. + +The air is cut away before, +And closes from behind. + +Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high +Or we shall be belated: +For slow and slow that ship will go, +When the Mariner's trance is abated. + +I woke, and we were sailing on +As in a gentle weather: +'Twas night, calm night, the Moon was high; +The dead men stood together. + +All stood together on the deck, +For a charnel-dungeon fitter: +All fixed on me their stony eyes, +That in the Moon did glitter. + +The pang, the curse, with which they died, +Had never passed away: +I could not draw my eyes from theirs, +Nor turn them up to pray. + +And now this spell was snapt: once more +I viewed the ocean green. +And looked far forth, yet little saw +Of what had else been seen-- + +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. + +But soon there breathed a wind on me, +Nor sound nor motion made: +Its path was not upon the sea, +In ripple or in shade. + +It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek +Like a meadow-gale of spring-- +It mingled strangely with my fears, +Yet it felt like a welcoming. + +Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship, +Yet she sailed softly too: +Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze-- +On me alone it blew. + +Oh! dream of joy! is this indeed +The light-house top I see? +Is this the hill? is this the kirk? +Is this mine own countree! + +We drifted o'er the harbour-bar, +And I with sobs did pray-- +O let me be awake, my God! +Or let me sleep alway. + +The harbour-bay was clear as glass, +So smoothly it was strewn! +And on the bay the moonlight lay, +And the shadow of the moon. + +The rock shone bright, the kirk no less, +That stands above the rock: +The moonlight steeped in silentness +The steady weathercock. + +And the bay was white with silent light, +Till rising from the same, +Full many shapes, that shadows were, +In crimson colours came. + +A little distance from the prow +Those crimson shadows were: +I turned my eyes upon the deck-- +Oh, Christ! what saw I there! + +Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat, +And, by the holy rood! +A man all light, a seraph-man, +On every corse there stood. + +This seraph band, each waved his hand: +It was a heavenly sight! +They stood as signals to the land, +Each one a lovely light: + +This seraph-band, each waved his hand, +No voice did they impart-- +No voice; but oh! the silence sank +Like music on my heart. + +But soon I heard the dash of oars; +I heard the Pilot's cheer; +My head was turned perforce away, +And I saw a boat appear. + +The Pilot, and the Pilot's boy, +I heard them coming fast: +Dear Lord in Heaven! it was a joy +The dead men could not blast. + +I saw a third--I heard his voice: +It is the Hermit good! +He singeth loud his godly hymns +That he makes in the wood. +He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash away +The Albatross's blood. + + + + +PART THE SEVENTH. + +This Hermit good lives in that wood +Which slopes down to the sea. +How loudly his sweet voice he rears! +He loves to talk with marineres +That come from a far countree. + +He kneels at morn and noon and eve-- +He hath a cushion plump: +It is the moss that wholly hides +The rotted old oak-stump. + +The skiff-boat neared: I heard them talk, +"Why this is strange, I trow! +Where are those lights so many and fair, +That signal made but now?" + +"Strange, by my faith!" the Hermit said-- +"And they answered not our cheer! +The planks looked warped! and see those sails, +How thin they are and sere! +I never saw aught like to them, +Unless perchance it were + +"Brown skeletons of leaves that lag +My forest-brook along; +When the ivy-tod is heavy with snow, +And the owlet whoops to the wolf below, +That eats the she-wolf's young." + +"Dear Lord! it hath a fiendish look-- +(The Pilot made reply) +I am a-feared"--"Push on, push on!" +Said the Hermit cheerily. + +The boat came closer to the ship, +But I nor spake nor stirred; +The boat came close beneath the ship, +And straight a sound was heard. + +Under the water it rumbled on, +Still louder and more dread: +It reached the ship, it split the bay; +The ship went down like lead. + +Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound, +Which sky and ocean smote, +Like one that hath been seven days drowned +My body lay afloat; +But swift as dreams, myself I found +Within the Pilot's boat. + +Upon the whirl, where sank the ship, +The boat spun round and round; +And all was still, save that the hill +Was telling of the sound. + +I moved my lips--the Pilot shrieked +And fell down in a fit; +The holy Hermit raised his eyes, +And prayed where he did sit. + +I took the oars: the Pilot's boy, +Who now doth crazy go, +Laughed loud and long, and all the while +His eyes went to and fro. +"Ha! ha!" quoth he, "full plain I see, +The Devil knows how to row." + +And now, all in my own countree, +I stood on the firm land! +The Hermit stepped forth from the boat, +And scarcely he could stand. + +"O shrieve me, shrieve me, holy man!" +The Hermit crossed his brow. +"Say quick," quoth he, "I bid thee say-- +What manner of man art thou?" + +Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched +With a woeful agony, +Which forced me to begin my tale; +And then it left me free. + +Since then, at an uncertain hour, +That agony returns; +And till my ghastly tale is told, +This heart within me burns. + +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. + +What loud uproar bursts from that door! +The wedding-guests are there: +But in the garden-bower the bride +And bride-maids singing are: +And hark the little vesper bell, +Which biddeth me to prayer! + +O Wedding-Guest! this soul hath been +Alone on a wide wide sea: +So lonely 'twas, that God himself +Scarce seemed there to be. + +O sweeter than the marriage-feast, +'Tis sweeter far to me, +To walk together to the kirk +With a goodly company!-- + +To walk together to the kirk, +And all together pray, +While each to his great Father bends, +Old men, and babes, and loving friends, +And youths and maidens gay! + +Farewell, farewell! but this I tell +To thee, thou Wedding-Guest! +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. + +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. + + + + |