17
THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER.
PART THE FOURTH.
The wedding-guest feareth that a spirit is talking to him;"I fear thee, ancient Mariner!
I fear thy skinny hand!
And thou art long, and lank, and brown,
As is the ribbed sea-sand.[1]
I fear thee and thy glittering eye,
And thy skinny hand, so brown."—
But the ancient Mariner assureth him of his bodily life, and proceedeth to relate his horrible penance.Fear not, fear not, thou Wedding-Guest!
This body dropt not down.
Alone, alone, all, all alone,
Alone on a wide wide sea!
- ↑ For the last two lines of this stanza, I am indebted to Mr. Wordsworth. It was on a delightful walk from Nether Stowey to Dulverton, with him and his sister, in the Autumn of 1797, that this Poem was planned, and in part composed.
vol. ii.
c
