The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Part the Sixth Cassandra, Labonno, Robyn, Kyle Leigh

Stanzas 1-3

FIRST VOICE.    But tell me, tell me! speak again,    Thy soft response renewing—    What makes that ship drive on so fast?    What is the Ocean doing?(410) SECOND VOICE.    Still as a slave before his lord,    The Ocean hath no blast;    His great bright eye most silently    Up to the Moon is cast—    If he may know which way to go;(415)    For she guides him smooth or grim    See, brother, see! how graciously    She looketh down on him. Gloss: The Mariner hath been cast into a trance; for the angelic power causeth the vessel to drive northward faster than human life could endure

• The Mariner has passed out and now hears two voices speaking above him. These voices speculate about the Mariner's current situation.

• Personification- capital letters for the ocean and the moon; refers to the Moon as she and the Ocean as he. 

• This personification suggests that the two objects have a relationship and indicates the influence of the moon on the ocean, with the moon as a leader or form of guidance for the sea.

• This first voice questions how it is possible for the ship to be moving so quickly, to which the second explains that the moon controls the ocean's actions.

 

Stanzas 4-6

 FIRST VOICE.    But why drives on that ship so fast,    Without or wave or wind?(420) SECOND VOICE.    The air is cut away before,    And closes from behind.    Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high    Or we shall be belated:    For slow and slow that ship will go,(425)    When the Mariner's trance is abated. 

• The first voice still questions how it is possible for the boat to be moving without any waves or wind to propel it forward.

• Alliteration: "without or wave or wind?"• The second voice explains that there is

some force pushing the ship forward. • Inner-line rhyme: "Fly, brother, fly! more

high, more high" and "For slow and slow that ship will go"

• Once the Mariner awakens, the ship will not continue on as quickly because it seems to be moving faster than any human could possibly handle.

"Without wave or wind"

Stanza 7

• The mariner awakens to the movement of the ship and the sight of the dead men standing on the deck.

• The Mariner seems to focus on the stillness of the night and the calm weather.

• In the poem, there is a consistent correlation between magical happenings and the nighttime; this is not the first time that the dead have risen on his ship

• The aforementioned "pennance" comes back again

I woke, and we were sailing onAs in a gentle weather:'Twas night, calm night, the Moon was high;The dead men stood together. (430) Gloss: The supernaturalmotion is retarded; the Mariner awakes, andhis penance beginsanew.  

Stanzas 8-10

All stood together on the deck,For a charnel-dungeon fitter:All fixed on me their stony eyes,That in the Moon did glitter. The pang, the curse, with which they died,(435)Had never passed away:I could not draw my eyes from theirs,Nor turn them up to pray. And now this spell was snapt: once moreI viewed the ocean green.(440)

And looked far forth, yet little sawOf what had else been seen— Gloss: The curse is finally expiated.

• The dead men transfix their eyes on the Mariner and the Mariner acknoweldges that the curse is still alive with them in their death.

• There is visual imagery of their eyes glittering in the moon.

• This mention of glittering eyes is reminiscent of the mariner's own "glittering eye"

• Rhyming: often the second and fourth lines rhyme• The phrase "charnel-dungeon fitter" means that the

dead men looked like they were in a morgue-like dungeon

• The Mariner is entranced by the men and is unable to even call for God's help.

• All of a sudden, the curse seems to end and the Mariner can turn away from the men.

• The ocean is no longer crimson; he now sees it as green because the ship is no longer possessed with evil

Stanzas 11-14• Anaphora: 'and'• Rhyming• Personification: "there breathed a wind on

me" • The mariner seems excited and happy to be

free of the curse- he describes how the wind was "like a welcoming"

• The mariner also seems scared at the same time. He describes how the wind "raised [his] hair" and how "it mingled strangely with [his] fears"

• The mood then changes to something much more upbeat than the foreboding tone of the beginning of these stanzas 

• Very pleasant/positive connotations with mentions of "spring" and "softly"

• Pleasant visual imagery- "Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze"

• Personification- "She (the ship) sailed soflty, too"- there is calmness

• A lot of 's' sounds that show the ship is moving with ease.

Like one that on a lonesome roadDoth walk in fear and dread,And having once turned round walks on, (445)And turns no more his head;Because he knows, a frightful fiendDoth close behind him tread But soon there breathed a wind on me,Nor sound nor motion made:(450)Its path was not upon the sea,In ripple or in shade. It raised my hair, it fanned my cheekLike a meadow-gale of spring—It mingled strangely with my fears,(455)Yet it felt like a welcoming.Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship,Yet she sailed softly too:Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze—On me alone it blew. (460)

Oh! dream of joy! is this indeedThe light-house top I see?Is this the hill? is this the kirk?Is this mine own countree Gloss: And the ancient mariner beholdeth his native country. We drifted o'er the harbour-bar,(465)And I with sobs did pray—O let me be awake, my God!Or let me sleep alway. The harbour-bay was clear as glass,So smoothly it was strewn!(470)And on the bay the moonlight lay,And the shadow of the Moon. The rock shone bright, the kirk no less,That stands above the rock:The moonlight steeped in silentness(475)The steady weathercock.

• The Mariner arrives on land in his home country, mentioning the landmarks from the very beginning of the story

• Simile: "The harbour-bay was clear as glass"

• Alliteration: "So smoothly it was strewn!" The 's' sound provides smooth, clear sound that emphasizes the clarity of the bay

• Mention of the moon, positive connotations here.

• There is visual imagery of the water being clear and smooth. The clearness of the water symbolizes how the sea monsters and problems he had are gone now.

• Another mention of moonlight here• Interesting mention of the "steady

weathercock," implying that there is no wind which further emphasizes the stillness and peace of the scene.

Stanzas 15-18

The Shadow of the Moon

Stanzas 19-20

And the bay was white with silent light,Till rising from the same,Full many shapes, that shadows were,In crimson colours came. (480) Gloss: The angelic spirits leave the dead bodies, A little distance from the prowThose crimson shadows were:I turned my eyes upon the deck—Oh, Christ! what saw I there! Gloss: And appear in their own forms of light.  

• Visual imagery: There is imagery related to light- "The bay was white with silent light"

• Sort of a hushed feeling/tone here as the spirits leave the bodies

• The imagery of the whiteness and light of the bay contrasts with the darker imagery of the "shadows in crimson colors."

• Crimson is also used consistently to describe the color of the boat's shadow in the water

• Synesthesia: "Silent light"

In crimson colors came

Stanzas 21-24

Each corse lay flat, lifeless and flat,(485)And, by the holy rood!A man all light, a seraph-man,On every corse there stood. This seraph band, each waved his hand:It was a heavenly sight!(490)They stood as signals to the land,Each one a lovely light: This seraph-band, each waved his hand,No voice did they impart—No voice; but oh! the silence sank(495)Like music on my heart. But soon I heard the dash of oars;I heard the Pilot's cheer;My head was turned perforce away,And I saw a boat appear.(500)

 

 

• "By the holy rood" means that the mariner is swearing by the cross

• "Seraph-man" means a class of angel• Anaphora: "No voice;" Despite the fact

that the "seraph-band" didn't speak, they still held a powerful presence and triggered admiration in the Mariner.

• Simile: "the silence sank/ Like music on my heart."

• This peaceful and uplifting scene is interrupted by the sound of oars, and another boat appears to the mariner.

A heavenly sight!

Stanzas 25-26

The Pilot, and the Pilot's boy,I heard them coming fast:Dear Lord in Heaven! it was a joyThe dead men could not blast. I saw a third—I heard his voice:(505)It is the Hermit good!He singeth loud his godly hymnsThat he makes in the wood.He'll shrieve my soul, he'll wash awayThe Albatross's blood.(510)

• Who is this mysterious Pilot and his son?• Mariner cries out to God, and even the dead

men can't ruin the mariner's joy at having found company!

• More excited/lively tone; the last stanza ends with a hopeful note from the Mariner

• The sight of the "Hermit good" inspires hope in the mariner that he will be able to save his soul and remove his burden, the curse of the Albatross.

• Consistent with each part ending with a mention of the Albatross

Overall Meaning

Part the Sixth of the poem seems to suggest that the mariner may be forgiven for his sin, especially in the last stanza when he sees the Hermit. The mariner wants to believe that he can repent for the crime that he committed, but later in the poem, we find that he carries a burden for the rest of his life. The ghostly voices present at the beginning of the section explain the supernatural force that must be propelling the ship onward. The mariner has reason to grow increasingly hopeful as it seems that his luck has turned around entirely with the spirits of the bodies ascending, and the sighting of a ship to end the mariner's loneliness.