32. "And some in dreams assuréd were 33. "And every tongue, through utter drought, Was withered at the root; We could not speak, no more than if 34. "Ah, welladay! What evil looks III. THE PROSPEROUS GALE AND THE RETURN. 35. "O sleep! it is a gentle thing, To Mary Queen the praise be given! 36. "The silly buckets on the deck, I dreamt that they were filled with dew; 37. "My lips were wet, my throat was cold, Sure I had drunken in my dreams, And still my body drank. 38. "I moved, and could not feel my limbs I thought that I had died in sleep, 39. And soon I heard a roaring wind; It did not come anear, But with its sound it shook the sails, 40. "The upper air burst into life! The wan stars danced between. 41. "And the coming wind did roar more loud, And the rain poured down from one black cloud- 42. "The thick black cloud was cleft, and still Like waters shot from some high crag, 43. "The helmsman steered, the ship moved on, 44. "Sometimes a-dropping from the sky Sometimes all little birds that are, How they seemed to fill the sea and air 45. "And now 'twas like all instruments, And now it is an angel's song, That makes the heavens be mute. 46. "It ceased; yet still the sails made on A pleasant noise till noon, A noise like of a hidden brook In the leafy month of June, 47. "Till noon we quietly sailed on, 48. "Swiftly, swiftly flew the ship, Sweetly, sweetly blew the breeze— 49. "Oh, dream of joy! is this, indeed, Is this the hill? Is this the kirk? 50. "We drifted o'er the harbor bar, IV. THE SHRIFT OF THE ANCIENT MARINER 51. "And now, all in my own countree, The hermit stepped forth from the boat, 6:6 52. O shrive me, shrive me, holy man!' 'Say quick,' quoth he, 'I bid thee say, 53. "Forthwith this frame of mine was wrenched With a woeful agony, Which forced me to begin my tale, 54. "Since then, at an uncertain hour, And till my ghastly tale is told, 55. "I pass, like night, from land to land; I know the man that must hear me: 56. "What loud uproar bursts from that door! And bridesmaids singing are; Which biddeth me to prayer. 57. "O wedding guest! this soul hath been So lonely 'twas, that God himself 58. "Oh, sweeter than the marriage feast, 'Tis sweeter far to me, To walk together to the kirk 59. "To walk together to the kirk, While each to his great Father bends, 60. "Farewell! farewell! But this I tell 61. "He prayeth best, who loveth best 62. The mariner, whose eye is bright, Is gone; and now the wedding guest 63. He went like one that hath been stunned, A sadder and a wiser man He rose the morrow morn. Samuel Taylor Coleridge. FOR PREPARATION.-I. What is an albatross? What superstiti n regarding it among sailors? (See 23.) Does the sun ordinarily appear "bigger than the moon " to us? (27.) Of this remarkable poem less than one half is given here, omission being made of most of the middle part, viz.: thirty-two stanzas that follow No. 34 here given; two stanzas that follow No. 42; four stanzas that follow No. 43; twenty stanzas that follow No. 47; twenty-two stanzas that follow No. 50; in all, eighty stanzas are omitted, |