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 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 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 selfsame 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.
- selfsame a.
- Precisely the same; the very same; identical. [Self, a. + same.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Part IV is in the public domain. This text is taken from Poems of Coleridge, Project Gutenberg ebook #8208; 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 Poems of Coleridge (1796–1817), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #8208, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/coleridge-poems/part-iv.html, id L00299.
Form and metre
Part IV is 68 lines in 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. 19% 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 -A-A mariner · handA · brown · sandA
- 2 -A-A eye · brownA · guest · downA
- 4 -A-A beautiful · lieA · things · iA
- 5 -A-A sea · awayA · deck · layA
- 7 -ABBA close · beatA · skyB · eyeB · feetA
- 8 -A-A limbs · theyA · me · awayA
- 9 -A-A-A hell · highA · that · eyeA · curse · dieA
- 10 -A-A sky · abideA · up · besideA
- 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 -A-A pray · freeA · sank · seaA
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. | 6 | ······ |
| 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. | 6 | ······ |
| 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. | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| 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 | 7 | ··/˘·/˘ |
| A still and awful red. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Beyond the shadow of the ship, | 8 | ···/···· |
| I watched the water-snakes: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| 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: | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| 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: | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Sure my kind saint took pity on me, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| And I blessed them unaware. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| The selfsame 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 | ······ |
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.