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"The ship was cheered, the harbor

cleared;

Merrily did we drop

Below 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 right

Went down into the sea;

The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
For he heard the loud bassoon.

The Bride hath paced into the hall-
Red as a rose is she;

Nodding their heads before her goes
The merry minstrelsy.

The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast,
Yet he cannot choose but hear;

And thus spake on that ancient man,

The bright-eyed Mariner:

The Mariner tells
how the ship
sailed south-
ward, 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

"And now the Storm-blast came, and he ya storm tow

Was tyrannous and strong;

He struck with his o'ertaking wings,

And chased us south along.

With sloping masts and dipping prow

As who pursued with yell and blow

Still treads the shadow of his foe,

And forward bends his head

ard the south

pole.

The land of ice
and of fearful
sounds.
where no living
thing was to be
seen.

Till a great seabird, called the Albatross, came through the snow-fog, and

The ship drove fast; loud roared the blast,

And southward aye we fled.

And now there came both mist and

snow,

And it grew wondrous cold;

And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.

And through the drifts the snowy cliffs
Did send a dismal sheen;

Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken-
The ice was all between.

The ice was here, the ice was there,
The ice was all around;

It cracked and growled, and roared and

howled,

Like noises in a swound!

At length did cross an Albatross-
Thorough the fog it came;

was received with As if it had been a Christian soul,

great joy and hospitality.

And lo! the Al

batross proveth a
bird of good
omen, and fol

loweth the ship
as it returned

northward

through fog

We hailed it in God's name.

It ate the food it ne'er had eat,

And round and round it flew.

The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through!

And a good south wind sprung up be

hind;

The Albatross did follow,

and floating ice. And every day, for food or play,

Came to the mariners' hollo!