Part IV
"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 onMy soul in agony.
The many men, so beautiful!And they all dead did lie:And a thousand thousand slimy thingsLived 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 mademy 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 skyLay 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 meHad never passed away.
An orphan's curse would drag to HellA spirit from on high;But oh! more horrible than thatIs 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 alwayA 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 lightFell off in hoary flakes.
Within the shadow of the shipI watched their rich attire:Blue, glossy green, and velvet black,They coiled and swam; and every trackWas a flash of golden fire.
O happy living things! no tongueTheir 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 freeThe Albatross fell off, and sankLike lead into the sea.
Words in this poem
- skinny a.
- Consisting, or chiefly consisting, of skin; wanting flesh.
- reek n.
- A rick. B. Jonson.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- hoar v. t.
- To become moldy or musty. [AS. harian to grow gray.]
- elfish a.
- Of or relating to the elves; elflike; implike; weird; scarcely human; mischievous, as though caused by elves.
- hoary a.
- White or whitish."The hoary willows."
- unaware a.
- Not aware; not noticing; giving no heed; thoughtless; inattentive.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part IV 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 IV, 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-4.html, id L00177.
Form and metre
Part IV is 68 lines in 15 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABCB, complete in 9 of its 15 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
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 marinerA · handB · brownC · sandB
- 2 ABCB eyeA · brownB · guestC · downB
- 3 ABCB aloneA · seaB · onC · agonyB
- 4 ABCB beautifulA · lieB · thingsC · iB
- 5 ABCB seaA · awayB · deckC · layB
- 6 ABCB prayA · gushtB · madeC · dustB
- 7 -ABBA close · beatA · skyB · eyeB · feetA
- 8 ABCB limbsA · theyB · meC · awayB
- 9 -A-A-A hell · highA · that · eyeA · curse · dieA
- 10 ABCB skyA · abideB · upC · besideB
- 11 -A--A main · spreadA · lay · alway · redA
- 12 -ABBA ship · snakesA · whiteB · lightB · flakesA
- 13 -ABBA ship · attireA · blackB · trackB · fireA
- 14 -A-A-A tongue · declareA · heart · unawareA · me · unawareA
- 15 ABCB prayA · freeB · sankC · seaB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "I fear thee, ancient Mariner! | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| I fear thy skinny hand! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And thou art long, and lank, and brown, | 8 | ········ |
| As is the ribbed sea-sand. | 7 | ····˘·· |
| "I fear thee and thy glittering eye, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And thy skinny hand, so brown."-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest! | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| This body dropt not down. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Alone, alone, all, all alone, | 8 | ˘/˘/··˘/ |
| Alone on a wide wide sea! | 7 | ˘/····· |
| And never a saint took pity on | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| My soul in agony. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| The many men, so beautiful! | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| And they all dead did lie: | 6 | ······ |
| And a thousand thousand slimy things | 9 | ··/˘/˘/˘· |
| Lived on; and so did I. | 7 | ·˘····· |
| I looked upon the rotting sea, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And drew my eyes away; | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I looked upon the rotting deck, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And there the dead men lay. | 6 | ······ |
| I looked to Heaven, and tried to pray: | 8 | ···/···· |
| But or ever a prayer had gusht, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| A wicked whisper came, and made | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| my heart as dry as dust. | 6 | ······ |
| I closed my lids, and kept them close, | 8 | ········ |
| And the balls like pulses beat; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky | 12 | ············ |
| Lay like a load on my weary eye, | 9 | ······/˘· |
| And the dead were at my feet. | 7 | ······· |
| The cold sweat melted from their limbs, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Nor rot nor reek did they: | 6 | ······ |
| The look with which they looked on me | 8 | ········ |
| Had never passed away. | 7 | ·/˘·˘˘/ |
| An orphan's curse would drag to Hell | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A spirit from on high; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But oh! more horrible than that | 8 | ···/˘˘·· |
| Is a curse in a dead man's eye! | 8 | ········ |
| Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse, | 8 | /·/····· |
| And yet I could not die. | 6 | ······ |
| The moving Moon went up the sky, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And no where did abide: | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Softly she was going up, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| And a star or two beside. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Her beams bemocked the sultry main, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Like April hoar-frost spread; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But where the ship's huge shadow lay, | 8 | ·····/·· |
| The charmed water burnt alway | 8 | ··˘/˘·/˘ |
| A still and awful red. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Beyond the shadow of the ship, | 8 | ···/···· |
| I watched the water-snakes: | 7 | ··˘·/˘· |
| They moved in tracks of shining white, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And when they reared, the elfish light | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Fell off in hoary flakes. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Within the shadow of the ship | 8 | ···/···· |
| I watched their rich attire: | 8 | ··˘··˘/˘ |
| Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| They coiled and swam; and every track | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Was a flash of golden fire. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| O happy living things! no tongue | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Their beauty might declare: | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| A spring of love gushed from my heart, | 8 | ········ |
| And I blessed them unaware: | 8 | ···˘··˘/ |
| Sure my kind saint took pity on me, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| And I blessed them unaware. | 8 | ···˘··˘/ |
| The self same moment I could pray; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And from my neck so free | 6 | ······ |
| The Albatross fell off, and sank | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Like lead into the sea. | 6 | ······ |
Notes from the edition 11
Marginal gloss by Coleridge (1817); notes by Frederick H. Sykes, Coleridge's Ancient Mariner and Select Poems (Scribner, c. 1908).
- Stanza 1, line 3 And thou art long, etc. "For the last two lines of this stanza," runs. Coleridge's note to the passage in "Sibylline Leaves," "I am indebted to Mr. Wordsworth. It was on a delightful walk from Nether Stowey to Dulverton, with him and his sister, in the autumn of 1797, that this poem was planned, and in part composed." Wordsworth in later years declared that he contributed also lines 13-16, "and four or five lines more in different parts of the poem, which I could not now point out."
- Stanza 3 Gloss: But the ancient Mariner assureth him of his bodily life, and proceedeth to relate his horrible penance.
- Stanza 4 Gloss: He despiseth the creatures of the calm.
- Stanza 5 Gloss: And envieth that they should live, and so many lie dead.
- Stanza 6, line 2 or ever. "Or" here is not the adversative conjunction but an entirely different word, an archaic variant of "ere," meaning "before."
- Stanza 7, line 3 For the sky and the sea, etc. Another instance of the sound fitting the sense. The rocking rhythm of the line is the rhythm of his fevered pulse. The poem is full of this quality.
- Stanza 8 Gloss: But the curse liveth for him in the eye of the dead men.
- Stanza 10 Gloss: In his loneliness and fixedness he yearneth towards the journeying Moon, and the stars that still sojourn, yet still move onward; and every where the blue sky belongs to them, and is their appointed rest, and their native country and their own natural homes, which they enter unannounced, as lords that are certainly expected and yet there is a silent joy at their arrival.
- Stanza 12 Gloss: By the light of the Moon he beholdeth God's creatures of the great calm.
- Stanza 14 Gloss: He blesseth them in his heart.
- Stanza 15 Gloss: The spell begins to break.
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.