The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Coleridge’s ballad in seven parts in which an old sailor stops a guest on his way to a wedding to tell how he shot an albatross and brought a curse on his ship.

Start reading7 parts, about 3,900 words

Famous lines

• The ice was here, the ice was there,
  The ice was all around:
  It cracked and growled, and roar’d and howl’d,
  Like noises in a swound!

  Part IIn context

  • Nature

• With my cross-bow
  I shot the Albatross!

  Part IIn context

  • Animals

• We were the first that ever burst
  Into that silent sea.

  Part IIIn context

• Water, water, every where,
  And all the boards did shrink;
  Water, water, every where,
  Nor any drop to drink.

  Part IIIn context

  • Nature

• Instead of the cross, the Albatross
  About my neck was hung.

  Part IIIn context

• The many men, so beautiful!
  And they all dead did lie:
  And a thousand thousand slimy things
  Liv’d on; and so did I.

  Part IVIn context

  • Life & Death

• He prayeth best, who loveth best
  All things both great and small;
  For the dear God who loveth us,
  He made and loveth all.

  Part VIIIn context

  • Animals
  • God
  • Prayer

Contents

1. Part I
2. Part II
3. Part III
4. Part IV
5. Part V
6. Part VI
7. Part VII