A most gentle Maid, Who dwelleth in her hospitable home To something more than Nature in the grove) Glides through the pathways; she knows all their notes, That gentle Maid! and oft, a moment's space, On blosmy twig still swinging from the breeze, Farewell, O Warbler! till to-morrow eve, Mars all things with his imitative lisp, * As if one quick and sudden gale had swept An hundred airy harps! 1798-1817. His little hand, the small forefinger up, He knows well And he beheld * the moon, and, hush'd at once, Should give me life, his childhood shall grow up * Beholds.—1798. THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER.* IN SEVEN PARTS.† An ancient meeteth three gallants bidden to a wedding-feast, and detaineth one. ARGUMENT. How a Ship having passed the Line was driven by storms to the cold Country towards the South Pole; and how from thence she made her course to the tropical Latitude of the Great Pacific Ocean; and of the strange things that befell; and in what manner the Ancient Mariner came back to his own Country. PART I. 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 ? ‡ * Ancyent Marinere, in the title and throughout the text, 1798. In the edition of 1800, The Ancient Mariner, a Poet's Reverie. + First printed in Lyrical Ballads, Bristol, 1798, and again in the enlarged London editions of 1800, 1802, and 1805. "By thy long grey beard and thy glittering eye Now wherefore stoppest me?"-1798. "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." 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 sat on a stone: And thus spake on that ancient man, "The ship was cheer'd, the harbour clear'd, Merrily did we drop The wedding guest is spellbound by the eye of the old sea-faring man, and constrained to hear his tale. * But still he holds the wedding-guest- He holds him with his skinny hand, "Now get thee hence, thou grey-beard Loon! Or my staff shall make thee skip."-1798. The Mariner tells how the ship sailed southward with a good wind and fair weather, till it reached the line. The wedding guest heareth the bridal music; but the mariner continueth his tale. The ship drawn by a storm toward the south pole. Below the kirk, below the hill, Below the light-house top. "The sun came up upon the left, And he shone bright, and on the right The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast, The bride hath paced into the hall, Nodding their heads before her goes The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, *"And now the storm-blast came, and he Was tyrannous and strong : * Listen, Stranger! Storm and Wind, A Wind and Tempest strong! For days and weeks it play'd us freaks- Listen, Stranger! Mist and Snow, And it grew wondrous cauld: &c.—1798. |