Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 7

[29-*] NOTE.--In 1798 there was published in England a little volume of poems known as Lyrical Ballads. This collection brought to its two young authors, Wordsworth and Coleridge, little immediate fame, but not long afterward people began to realize that much that was contained in the little book was real poetry, and great poetry. The chief contribution of Coleridge to this venture was The Ancient Mariner.

The poem as originally printed had a series of quaintly explanatory notes in the margin, and an introductory argument which read as follows:

"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 latitudes 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."

[30-1] Eftsoons means quickly. The poem is written in ballad form, and many quaint old words are introduced.

[30-2] Such rhymes as this--_Mariner_ with hear,--were common in the old ballads which Coleridge so perfectly imitates.

[30-3] Does this line tell you anything about the direction in which they were sailing?

[30-4] Where was the ship when the sun stood "over the mast at noon"?

[31-5] Two words are to be understood in this line--"As one who is pursued."

[31-6] Is not this an effective line? Can you think of any way in which the closeness of the foe could be more effectively suggested?

[32-7] Coleridge's wonderful power of painting word-pictures is shown in this and the succeeding stanzas. With the simplest language he makes us realize the absolute lonesomeness and desolateness of the scene: he produces in us something of the same feeling of awe and horror that we should have were we actually in the situation he describes.

[32-8] Clifts means cleft rocks.

[32-9] "Like noises one hears in a swound."

[32-10] Thorough is used here instead of through, as it often is in poetry, for the sake of the meter.

[32-11] Besides the joy the sailors felt at seeing a living creature after the days in which they had seen "nor shapes of men nor beasts," they had a special pleasure in welcoming the albatross because it was regarded as a bird of good omen.

[34-12] Coleridge does not state that it was the albatross that brought the "good south wind:" he lets us infer it.

[34-13] In what direction were they sailing now?

[35-14] Uprist is an old form for uprose.

[35-15] It was this attitude of the sailors toward the mariner's brutal act of killing the bird that brought punishment upon them; they cared nothing for the death of the harmless bird, but only for its effect upon them.

[35-16] Note the striking alliteration in these two lines. Read this stanza and the succeeding one aloud, and see how much easier it is to read these alliterative lines rapidly than it is any of the other six lines. Such relation of movement to meaning is one of the artistic things about the poem.

[35-17] How far northward had the ship returned?

[35-18] When such a definite picture is presented, close your eyes and try to see it. Did you ever see the sun when it seemed to have no radiance--when it was just a red circle?

[36-19] A rout is a confused and whirling dance.

[36-20] The death-fires are a sort of phosphorescent light, or will-o'-the-wisp, supposed to portend death.

[36-21] The shipmates try in this manner to fasten all the guilt on the ancient mariner and mark him alone for punishment.

[37-22] Wist means knew.

[37-23] Gramercy is an exclamation derived from the French grand merci, which means great thanks.

[37-24] In a comment on The Ancient Mariner Coleridge says: "I took the thought of 'grinning for joy' from my companion's remark to me, when we had climbed to the top of Plinlimmon, and were nearly dead with thirst. We could not speak from the constriction, till we found a little puddle under a stone. He said to me: 'You grinned like an idiot.' He had done the same."

[39-25] Gossameres are the cobweb-like films seen floating in the air in summer.

[39-26] Death and Life-in-Death have been casting dice for the crew, as to whether they shall die, or live and suffer. Life-in-Death has won the ancient mariner.

[40-27] This is Coleridge's beautiful way of telling us that in the tropics there is little or no twilight.

[40-28] Clomb is an old form of climbed.

[40-29] That is, the waning moon. Did you ever see the moon "with one bright star within the nether tip"?

[41-30] In his notes on the poem, Coleridge stated that the last two lines of this stanza were composed by Wordsworth.

[42-31] Can you see any reason for the repetition in this line, and for the unusual length? Does it suggest the load and the weariness in the next line?

[43-32] This is the turning point of the poem. As soon as the mariner felt in his heart love for the "happy living things," the spell which had been laid on him for the wanton slaying of the albatross began to break. In the third stanza from the end of the poem, this point is clearly brought out.

[44-33] Silly here means helpless, useless.

[44-34] Sheen means bright, glittering.

[45-35] Note this fine alliterative line.

[49-36] The mariner has been thrown into a trance, for the ship is being driven northward faster than a human being could endure.

[50-37] A charnel-dungeon is a vault or chamber underneath or near a church, where the bones of the dead are laid.