Part II
The Sun now rose upon the right:Out of the sea came he,Still hid in mist, and on the leftWent down into the sea.
And the good south wind still blew behindBut no sweet bird did follow,Nor any day for food or playCame to the mariners' hollo!
And I had done an hellish thing,And it would work 'em woe:For all averred, I had killed the birdThat made the breeze to blow.Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slayThat 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 birdThat 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 burstInto that silent sea.
Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,'Twas sad as sad could be;And we did speak only to breakThe 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 shipUpon 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 legsUpon the slimy sea.
About, about, in reel and routThe death-fires danced at night;The water, like a witch's oils,Burnt green, and blue and white.
And some in dreams assured wereOf the spirit that plagued us so:Nine fathom deep he had followed usFrom the land of mist and snow.
And every tongue, through utter drought,Was withered at the root;We could not speak, no more than ifWe had been choked with soot.
Ah! well a-day! what evil looksHad I from old and young!Instead of the cross, the AlbatrossAbout my neck was hung.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- bigger a.
- , compar. of Big.
- crawl v. i.
- To move slowly by drawing the body along the ground, as a worm; to move slowly on hands and kness; to creep. [Dan. kravle, or Icel. krafla, to paw, scrabble with the hands; akin to Sw. kr to crawl; cf. LG. krabbeln, D. krabbelen to scratch.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part II is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Project Gutenberg ebook #151; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Part II, in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798, text of 1834), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #151, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/ancient-mariner/part-2.html, id L00175.
Form and metre
Part II is 60 lines in 14 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABCB, complete in 12 of its 14 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.3 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 27% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end. Rhymes that have moved apart since the poem was written: cold / emerald, albatross / thus, root / soot, gossameres / nears, groan / one and 11 more.
See other poems in common measure.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABCB rightA · heB · leftC · seaB
- 2 ABCB behindA · followB · playC · holloB
- 3 -A-A-A thing · woeA · bird · blowA · slay · blowA
- 4 -A-A-A head · upristA · bird · mistA · slay · mistA
- 5 ABCB flewA · freeB · burstC · seaB
- 6 ABCB downA · beB · breakC · seaB
- 7 ABCB skyA · noonB · standC · moonB
- 8 ABCB dayA · motionB · shipC · oceanB
- 9 ABCB whereA · shrinkB · whereC · drinkB
- 10 ABCB christA · beB · legsC · seaB
- 11 ABCB routA · nightB · oilsC · whiteB
- 12 ABCB wereA · soB · usC · snowB
- 13 ABCB droughtA · rootB · ifC · sootB
- 14 ABCB looksA · youngB · albatrossC · hungB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The Sun now rose upon the right: | 8 | ········ |
| Out of the sea came he, | 6 | ······ |
| Still hid in mist, and on the left | 8 | ········ |
| Went down into the sea. | 6 | ······ |
| And the good south wind still blew behind | 9 | ········· |
| But no sweet bird did follow, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Nor any day for food or play | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Came to the mariners' hollo! | 8 | ···/˘˘/· |
| And I had done an hellish thing, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And it would work 'em woe: | 6 | ······ |
| For all averred, I had killed the bird | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| That made the breeze to blow. | 6 | ······ |
| Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay | 8 | ········ |
| That made the breeze to blow! | 6 | ······ |
| Nor dim nor red, like God's own head, | 8 | ········ |
| The glorious Sun uprist: | 7 | ·/˘˘·˘/ |
| Then all averred, I had killed the bird | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| That brought the fog and mist. | 6 | ······ |
| 'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay, | 8 | ········ |
| That bring the fog and mist. | 6 | ······ |
| The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, | 8 | ········ |
| The furrow followed free: | 7 | ·/˘/˘˘· |
| We were the first that ever burst | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Into that silent sea. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down, | 8 | ········ |
| 'Twas sad as sad could be; | 6 | ······ |
| And we did speak only to break | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| The silence of the sea! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| All in a hot and copper sky, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The bloody Sun, at noon, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Right up above the mast did stand, | 8 | ········ |
| No bigger than the Moon. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Day after day, day after day, | 8 | ········ |
| We stuck, nor breath nor motion; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| As idle as a painted ship | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Upon a painted ocean. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| Water, water, every where, | 8 | /˘/˘/˘˘· |
| And all the boards did shrink; | 6 | ······ |
| Water, water, every where, | 8 | /˘/˘/˘˘· |
| Nor any drop to drink. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The very deep did rot: O Christ! | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That ever this should be! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Upon the slimy sea. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| About, about, in reel and rout | 8 | ········ |
| The death-fires danced at night; | 8 | ··/˘·˘·· |
| The water, like a witch's oils, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Burnt green, and blue and white. | 6 | ······ |
| And some in dreams assured were | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Of the spirit that plagued us so: | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Nine fathom deep he had followed us | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| From the land of mist and snow. | 7 | ······· |
| And every tongue, through utter drought, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Was withered at the root; | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| We could not speak, no more than if | 8 | ········ |
| We had been choked with soot. | 7 | ····˘·· |
| Ah! well a-day! what evil looks | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Had I from old and young! | 6 | ······ |
| Instead of the cross, the Albatross | 9 | ˘/····/˘· |
| About my neck was hung. | 6 | ······ |
Notes from the edition 12
Marginal gloss by Coleridge (1817); notes by Frederick H. Sykes, Coleridge's Ancient Mariner and Select Poems (Scribner, c. 1908).
- Stanza 4 Gloss: But when the fog cleared off, they justify the same, and thus make themselves accomplices in the crime.
- Stanza 4, line 1 like God's own head. The comparison is the converse of that in the Bible, Matthew xvii., 2, Revelations I., 16, where the countenance of Christ glorified is said to shine "as the sun" (Sykes).
- Stanza 4, line 2 uprist. This word was used in Middle English as a noun, and regularly as the 3d pers. sing. pres. ind. of the verb "uprise." In "The Reves Tale" line 329, however, Chaucer uses, it in a context of past tenses, as Coleridge does here, as if it were a weak preterit; and Chaucer uses "rist up" in the same way several times (Sykes).
- Stanza 5 Gloss: The fair breeze continues; the ship enters the Pacific Ocean, and sails northward, even till it reaches the Line.
- Stanza 5, line 2 The furrow followed free. This was changed in "Sibylline Leaves" to "The furrow streamed off free," because, Coleridge tells us, "from the ship itself the Wake appears like a brook flowing off from the stern." In the case of modern steamboats at least it would be more correct to say that the wake, as seen from the stern of the boat, looks like a brook following the boat. The original reading was restored in the editions of 1828 and 1829.
- Stanza 6 Gloss: The ship hath been suddenly becalmed.
- Stanza 9 Gloss: And the Albatross begins to be avenged.
- Stanza 10, line 1 The very deep did rot, etc. The ship becalmed in tropic seas, and the slimy things engendered there, were a vision in Coleridge's mind before "The Ancient Mariner" was thought of. In the lines contributed to Southey's "Joan of Arc" in 1796 (published, with additions, as "The Destiny of Nations" in "Sibylline Leaves"), in an allegoric passage on Chaos and Love, he wrote:
"As what time, after long and pestful calms, With slimy shapes and miscreated life Poisoning the vast Pacific, the fresh breeze Wakens the merchant sail uprising."
The same subject had occupied Wordsworth's imagination before he and Coleridge came together at Stowey; see Wordsworth's "The Borderers," Act iv. - Stanza 10, line 3 slimy things. Strange creatures, the spawn of the rotting sea, for which the Mariner has no name.
- Stanza 12 Gloss: A Spirit had followed them: one of the invisible inhabitants of this planet, neither departed souls nor angels, concerning whom the learned Jew, Josephus, and the Platonic Constantinopolitan, Michael Psellus, may be consulted. They are very numerous, and there is no climate or element without one or more.
- Stanza 12, line 1 Josephus, Michael Psellus. The only "learned Jew, Josephus," that we know of is the historian of that name who lived in the first century of our era; but little has been found in his works to justify this reference. The "Platonic Constantinopolitan, Michael Psellus," was a Byzantine teacher of the eleventh century who wrote a dialogue in which demons are classified according to the element in which they live (Cooper; Sykes).
- Stanza 14 Gloss: 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.
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