“The many men, so beautiful! And they all dead did lie: And a thousand thousand slimy things Lived on; and so did I.”
Work
Coleridge's celebrated poem was written at the suggestion of William Wordsworth in the early days of their friendship, and published for the first time in 1798. It is the story of a nightmare voyage to the South Pole told by the sole survivor, the bright-eyed ancient mariner whose wanton killing of an albatross, a bird of good omen, brought misfortune on the ship and all its crew. Coleridge's own commentary on the fateful drama, written some years later at a time of renewed religious feeling, is printed alongside the poem. The poem is brilliantly illustrated with a sequence of specially commissioned drawings by Mervyn Peake. His powerful, arresting images perfectly express the qualities of the text, its gothic atmosphere and supernatural terrors, ultimately softened by pity and the hope of redemption.
Quotes
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Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Canonical work source
“The many men, so beautiful! And they all dead did lie: And a thousand thousand slimy things Lived on; and so did I.”
“Day after day, day after day, We stuck, nor breath nor motion; As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean.”
“An orphan's curse would drag to hell A spirit from on high; But oh! more horrible than that Is the curse in a dead man's eye! Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse, And yet I could not...”
“Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink.”
“Since then, at an uncertain hour, That agony returns: And till my ghastly tale is told, This heart within me burns.”