The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere, in Seven Parts I
It is an ancyent Marinere,And he stoppeth one of three:“By thy long grey beard and thy glittering eye“Now wherefore stoppest me?
“The Bridegroom’s doors are open’d wide“And I am next of kin;“The Guests are met, the Feast is set,--“May’st hear the merry din.--
But still he holds the wedding-guest--There was a Ship, quoth he--“Nay, if thou’st got a laughsome tale,“Marinere! come with me.”
He holds him with his skinny hand,Quoth he, there was a Ship--“Now get thee hence, thou grey-beard Loon!“Or my Staff shall make thee skip.”
He holds him with his glittering eye--The wedding guest stood stillAnd listens like a three year’s child;The Marinere hath his will.
The wedding-guest sate on a stone,He cannot chuse but hear:And thus spake on that ancyent man,The bright-eyed Marinere.
The Ship was cheer’d, the Harbour clear’d--Merrily did we dropBelow 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 rightWent 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 pac’d into the Hall,Red as a rose is she;Nodding their heads before her goesThe merry Minstralsy.
The wedding-guest he beat his breast,Yet he cannot chuse but hear:And thus spake on that ancyent Man,The bright-eyed Marinere.
Listen, Stranger! Storm and Wind,A Wind and Tempest strong!For days and weeks it play’d us freaks--Like Chaff we drove along.
Listen, Stranger! Mist and Snow,And it grew wond’rous cauld:And Ice mast-high came floating byAs green as Emerauld.
And thro’ the drifts the snowy cliftsDid send a dismal sheen;Ne shapes of men ne beasts we ken--The Ice was all between.
The Ice was here, the Ice was there,The Ice was all around:It crack’d and growl’d, and roar’d and howl’d--Like noises of a swound.
At length did cross an Albatross,Thorough the Fog it came;And an it were a Christian Soul,We hail’d it in God’s name.
The Marineres gave it biscuit-worms,And round and round it flew:The Ice did split with a Thunder-fit;The Helmsman steer’d us thro’.
And a good south wind sprung up behind,The Albatross did follow;And every day for food or playCame to the Marinere’s hollo!
In mist or cloud on mast or shroudIt perch’d for vespers nine,Whiles all the night thro’ fog-smoke whiteGlimmer’d the white moon-shine.
“God save thee, ancyent Marinere!“From the fiends that plague thee thus--“Why look’st thou so?”--with my cross bowI shot the Albatross.
Words in this poem
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- quoth v. t.
- Said; spoke; uttered; -- used only in the first and third persons in the past tenses, and always followed by its nominative, the word or words said being the object; as, quoth I. quoth he. [AS.cweedhan, imp cwæedh, pl. cwædon; akin to OS. queedhan, OHG. quethan, quedan, Icel. kveedha, Goth. qiþan. sq. root22. Cf. Bequeath.]
- laughsome a.
- Exciting laughter; also, addicted to laughter; merry.
- skinny a.
- Consisting, or chiefly consisting, of skin; wanting flesh.
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- sate v. t.
- To satisfy the desire or appetite of; to satiate; to glut; to surfeit. [Probably shortened fr. satiate: cf. L. satus full. See Satiate.]
- harbour n.
- A station for rest and entertainment; a place of security and comfort; a refuge; a shelter. [OE herbor, herberwe, herberge, Icel. herbergi (cf. OHG. heriberga), orig., a shelter for soldiers; herr army + bjarga to save, help, defend; akin to AS. here ar]
- kirk n.
- A church or the church, in the various senses of the word; esp., the Church of Scotland as distinguished from other reformed churches, or from the Roman Catholic Church. Jamieson. [Scot.; cf. Icel. kirkja, of Greek origin. See Church.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- drove n.
- A collection of cattle driven, or cattle collected for driving; a number of animals, as oxen, sheep, or swine, driven in a body. [AS. draf, fr. drifan to drive. See Drive.]
- snowy a.
- White like snow.
- dismal a.
- Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Formerly a noun; e. g., "I trow it was in the dismalle." Chaucer. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF. disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phr]
- sheen v. i.
- To shine; to glisten.
- whiles conj.
- During the time that; while. Chaucer. Fuller.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere, in Seven Parts I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Lyrical Ballads, With a Few Other Poems (1798), Project Gutenberg ebook #9622; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: William Wordsworth, The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere, in Seven Parts I, in Lyrical Ballads (1798), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #9622, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lyrical-ballads/the-rime-of-the-ancyent-marinere-in-seven-parts-i.html, id L02842.
Form and metre
The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere, in Seven Parts I is 80 lines in 20 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 15% 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 -AAA marinere · threeA · eyeA · meA
- 2 -A-A wide · kinA · set · dinA
- 3 -A-A guest · heA · tale · meA
- 4 -A-A hand · shipA · loon · skipA
- 5 -A-A eye · stillA · child · willA
- 7 -A-A clear'd · dropA · hill · topA
- 8 -A-A left · heA · right · seaA
- 9 -A-A day · noonA · breast · bassoonA
- 12 -A-A wind · strongA · freaks · alongA
- 13 -A-A snow · cauldA · by · emerauldA
- 14 -A-A clifts · sheenA · ken · betweenA
- 15 -A-A there · aroundA · howl'd · swoundA
- 16 -A-A albatross · cameA · soul · nameA
- 19 -A-A shroud · nineA · white · shineA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| It is an ancyent Marinere, | 8 | ········ |
| And he stoppeth one of three: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| “By thy long grey beard and thy glittering eye | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| “Now wherefore stoppest me? | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| “The Bridegroom’s doors are open’d wide | 8 | ·/···/˘· |
| “And I am next of kin; | 6 | ······ |
| “The Guests are met, the Feast is set,-- | 8 | ········ |
| “May’st hear the merry din.-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| But still he holds the wedding-guest-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| There was a Ship, quoth he-- | 6 | ······ |
| “Nay, if thou’st got a laughsome tale, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| “Marinere! come with me.” | 6 | ······ |
| He holds him with his skinny hand, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Quoth he, there was a Ship-- | 6 | ······ |
| “Now get thee hence, thou grey-beard Loon! | 8 | ········ |
| “Or my Staff shall make thee skip.” | 7 | ······· |
| He holds him with his glittering eye-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The wedding guest stood still | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And listens like a three year’s child; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| The Marinere hath his will. | 7 | ······· |
| The wedding-guest sate on a stone, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| He cannot chuse but hear: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And thus spake on that ancyent man, | 8 | ········ |
| The bright-eyed Marinere. | 6 | ······ |
| The Ship was cheer’d, the Harbour clear’d-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Merrily did we drop | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| Below the Kirk, below the Hill, | 8 | ········ |
| Below the Light-house top. | 6 | ······ |
| The Sun came up upon the left, | 8 | ········ |
| Out of the Sea came he: | 6 | ······ |
| And he shone bright, and on the right | 8 | ········ |
| Went down into the Sea. | 6 | ······ |
| Higher and higher every day, | 8 | /·/˘/˘˘· |
| Till over the mast at noon-- | 7 | ······· |
| The wedding-guest here beat his breast, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| For he heard the loud bassoon. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| The Bride hath pac’d into the Hall, | 8 | ········ |
| Red as a rose is she; | 6 | ······ |
| Nodding their heads before her goes | 8 | /˘······ |
| The merry Minstralsy. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The wedding-guest he beat his breast, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Yet he cannot chuse but hear: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And thus spake on that ancyent Man, | 8 | ········ |
| The bright-eyed Marinere. | 6 | ······ |
| Listen, Stranger! Storm and Wind, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| A Wind and Tempest strong! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| For days and weeks it play’d us freaks-- | 8 | ········ |
| Like Chaff we drove along. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Listen, Stranger! Mist and Snow, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| And it grew wond’rous cauld: | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And Ice mast-high came floating by | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As green as Emerauld. | 6 | ······ |
| And thro’ the drifts the snowy clifts | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Did send a dismal sheen; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Ne shapes of men ne beasts we ken-- | 8 | ········ |
| The Ice was all between. | 6 | ······ |
| The Ice was here, the Ice was there, | 8 | ········ |
| The Ice was all around: | 6 | ······ |
| It crack’d and growl’d, and roar’d and howl’d-- | 8 | ········ |
| Like noises of a swound. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| At length did cross an Albatross, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Thorough the Fog it came; | 6 | /˘···· |
| And an it were a Christian Soul, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| We hail’d it in God’s name. | 6 | ······ |
| The Marineres gave it biscuit-worms, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And round and round it flew: | 6 | ······ |
| The Ice did split with a Thunder-fit; | 9 | ······/˘· |
| The Helmsman steer’d us thro’. | 6 | ·/···· |
| And a good south wind sprung up behind, | 9 | ········· |
| The Albatross did follow; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| And every day for food or play | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Came to the Marinere’s hollo! | 8 | ······/· |
| In mist or cloud on mast or shroud | 8 | ········ |
| It perch’d for vespers nine, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Whiles all the night thro’ fog-smoke white | 8 | ········ |
| Glimmer’d the white moon-shine. | 6 | ······ |
| “God save thee, ancyent Marinere! | 8 | ········ |
| “From the fiends that plague thee thus-- | 7 | ······· |
| “Why look’st thou so?”--with my cross bow | 8 | ········ |
| I shot the Albatross. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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