A sadder and a wiser man, He rose the morrow morn.
The wedding guest is a sadder and wiser man after hearing the Mariner's story. It seems that what the Mariner went through (and the fact that he was saved) is worth it if the people he recounts his story to learn from his mistakes
He prayeth well, who loveth well Both man and bird and beast.
Seems to be the moral of the entire story; the Mariner did not pray well until he saw the water-snakes in a good light (he had previously called them slimy things), and only then was he saved. He shot the albatross, an animal, for no apparent reason, and it brought him much pain, but when he moved to love nature, he was saved
O sweeter than the marriage-feast, ‘Tis sweeter far to me, To walk together to the kirk With a goodly company!–
Going to the church with good company is sweeter to the Mariner than a wedding feast
nd hark the little vesper bell, Which biddeth me to prayer!
the Mariner says that the wedding bells are calling him to pray
Since then, at an uncertain hour, That agony returns; And till my ghastly tale is told, This heart within me burns.
The Mariner regularly feels that he must tell his tale. It is a sort of penance that he serves, telling others of the terrible thing he did over and over again
“Ha ! ha !” quoth he, “full plain I see, The Devil knows how to row.”
The Mariner's journey has made him look a Devil
Like one that hath been seven days drown’d My body lay afloat ;
He lays in the water like the bodies of his crewmen had laid, but he is saved by the Pilot
And the owlet whoops to the wolf below, That eats the she-wolf’s young.”
Microcosm of the poem; the Mariner was like the wolf eating the she-wolf's young — he killed the bird that was helping all of the crew, and nature "whoop[ed]" to him
The skeletons of leaves that lag My forest-brook along;
The sails look like dried leaves (etiolated)
“Why, this is strange, I trow! Where are those lights so many and fair, That signal made but now?”
One of the rescuers asks where the red lights, which he thought were signals, went
Dear Lord in Heaven! it was a joy The dead men could not blast.
He is glad that the dead men couldn't make noise; otherwise, he wouldn't have heard the Pilot and Pilot's boy
No voice did they impart– No voice; but oh! the silence sank Like music on my heart.
Silence again, but this time the silence hits the Mariner like music (previously, the sound of those good spirits was like music)
A man all light, a seraph-man, On every corse there stood.
A "seraph-man" or an angel stands over the corpse of his crewmates, who are lying flat again. Their spirits had helped guide the ship home
The moonlight steeped in silentness The steady weathercock.
Again, their is silence in the moonlight, but this time it is good.
But soon there breathed a wind on me, Nor sound nor motion made: Its path was not upon the sea, In ripple or in shade. It raised my hair, it fanned my cheek Like a meadow-gale of spring– It mingled strangely with my fears, 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.
A breeze picks up and blows on only the mariner
Like one, that on a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turn’d round, walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows, a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread.
He doesn't try to find a hint of that old fever dream, for fear that it might return soon
And now this spell was snapt: once more I viewed the ocean green, And looked far forth, yet little saw Of what had else been seen–
He wakes up, and the ocean looks... normal. He can't seem to see any trace of the supernatural world he was in
All fixed on me their stony eyes, That in the Moon did glitter.
So, the men are staring at the Mariner again, looking at him like he is the one who brought them to their deaths
charnel-dungeon fitter:
someone who creates equipment for a death dungeon (chains, shoes, etc.)
For slow and slow that ship will go, When the Mariner’s trance is abated.”
The ship will move slowly when the Mariner awakens. Is this because of his relationship with whatever force is causing them to move?
The air is cut away before, And closes from behind.
The air in front of the ship is sucked away; the ship moves forward because of a vacuum
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; For she guides him smooth or grim. See, brother, see! how graciously She looketh down on him.”
The ocean follows the moon's command
The spirit who bideth by himself In the land of mist and snow, He loved the bird that loved the man Who shot him with his bow.”
the Mariner is described as "the spirit" who "loved the bird that loved the man who shot him with his bow." So, these other people (spirits) think that the Mariner loved the albatross, and that the albatross loved the men of the ship.
And I fell down in a swound
He faints
And the ship stood still also. The Sun, right up above the mast, Had fixt her to the ocean; But in a minute she ‘gan stir, With a short uneasy motion– Backwards and forwards half her length With a short uneasy motion.
The ship is still when the sun is directly above them, but the ship starts moving again shortly afterwards, presumably because the sun moves.
The spirit slid: and it was he That made the ship to go.
The albatross, now nine fathoms beneath the ship, psuhes the boat along with his spirit
Till noon we quietly sailed on, Yet never a breeze did breathe: Slowly and smoothly went the ship, Moved onward from beneath.
The ship moves without wind; it is pushed "from beneath"
And now ’twas like all instruments, Now like a lonely flute; And now it is an angel’s song, That makes the Heavens be mute.
The song withers from a symphony to a "lonely flute" and then finally to an "angel's song," presumably something gentle, that makes the weather clear ("the Heavens be mute")
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, That to the sleeping woods all night Singeth a quiet tune.
The tune lingers til noon like a babbling brook
Slowly the sounds came back again, Now mixed, now one by one
The sounds come back mixed together in symphony, and they come back one by one
For when it dawned–they dropped their arms, And clustered round the mast; Sweet sounds rose slowly through their mouths, And from their bodies passed.
The spirits exit the men's bodies through their mouths and create "sweet sounds"
But a troop of spirits blest:
A host of good spirits took over the dead men's bodies, says the Mariner
The body of my brother’s son Stood by me, knee to knee: The body and I pulled at one rope, But he said nought to me.
We are now told that the son of the Mariner's brother was on this ship; they don't talk, but they pull a rope togther
They raised their limbs like lifeless tools–
The crewmen, who may or may not be unded, use their limbs like "lifeless tools"
Like waters shot from some high crag, The lightning fell with never a jag, A river steep and wide.
Lightning comes straight down in a wide burst from the thundercloud; the moon is still in the sky
To and fro they were hurried about; And to and fro, and in and out, The wan stars danced between.
Paints a really pretty picture of the sky; the fire-flags weaving about with pale stars dancing in the interstices
And was a blessed ghost.
Drinking again after so long leaves him feeling as if he has died a blessed ghost
sere.
dry, etiolated
I dreamt that they were filled with dew; And when I awoke, it rained.
He dreams of dew filling the ship's buckets — something that hasn't happened since they lost wind. When he wakes up, it rains. Reality aligns with his dreams here, after he has prayed (maybe significant)
She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven, That slid into my soul.
He sleep.
The self same moment I could pray; And from my neck so free The Albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea.
The albatross falls off as soon as he prays
Sure my kind saint took pity on me, And I blessed them unaware.
Seeing this sign of life, the Mariner feels he has been blessed by his saint, and he blesses the water-snakes in their ignorance
They moved in tracks of shining white, And when they reared, the elfish light Fell off in hoary flakes.
Signs of life bring shining white light
The charmed water burnt alway A still and awful red.
The water is still that awful red that came after the albatross's mist left them
hoar-frost
hoarfrost = rime
The moving Moon went up the sky, And no where did abide: Softly she was going up, And a star or two beside–
Time keeps passing, the moon keeps rising
The cold sweat melted from their limbs, Nor rot nor reek did they: The look with which they look’d on me Had never passed away.
When he closes his eyes, the Mariner can see the gaze his crewmen gave him before dying. We know that this is probably happening after he closes his eyes because the crewmen did not "rot nor reek"
For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky Lay, like a cloud, on my weary eye,
The nature around him weighs on him; the sky and the sea are the things that brought him here, and they are what have brought him so much pain as well (the albatross that he killed, the undead ship that brought death, the very currents that brought their ship to this spot)
I look’d to heaven, and tried to pray; But or ever a prayer had gusht, A wicked whisper came, and made My heart as dry as dust.
He cannot bring himself to pray
And a thousand thousand slimy things Liv’d on; and so did I.
The Mariner is only left with "the slimy things," which likely means the algae sitting on the still ocean's surface.
This is said right after he lingers on the fact that his crewmen, "so beautiful" all lie dead. He seems wracked with guilt, especially because he mentions the algae that live before he ends the line with a feeble "and so did I [live]" after a semicolon.
“I fear thee, ancient Mariner! I fear thy skinny hand! And thou art long, and lank, and brown, As is the ribbed sea-sand. I fear thee and thy glittering eye, And thy skinny hand, so brown.”–
The Wedding Guest says he is afraid of the Mariner. He seems to suggest that he is afraid the Mariner is undead
Like the whiz of my CROSS-BOW!
Another Part ends with something shooting like a crossbow; this time, the lives of his crewmates shoot by the mariner (but perhaps that's what flew by the first time, too)
Four times fifty living men, (And I heard nor sigh nor groan) With heavy thump, a lifeless lump, They dropped down one by one.
200 men die all of a sudden, without a sound
Each turn’d his face with a ghastly pang, And cursed me with his eye.
All the sailors turn to curse the mariner with their gaze
Fear at my heart, as at a cup, My life-blood seem’d to sip!
He is filled with fear
The Sun’s rim dips; the stars rush out:
Night comes quickly; or, rather, day flees quickly, like wind
Off shot the spectre-bark.
The ghost ship sailed away
A gust of wind sterte up behind And whistled through his bones; Through the holes of his eyes and the hole of his mouth, Half whistles and half groans.
A gust of wind comes after she whistles
And the twain were casting dice; “The game is done! I’ve won, I’ve won!” Quoth she, and whistles thrice.
She beats DEATH in a game of dice.
Her lips were red, her looks were free, Her locks were yellow as gold: Her skin was as white as leprosy, The Night-Mair LIFE-IN-DEATH was she, Who thicks man’s blood with cold.
The woman is described as beautiful ("her looks were free") and she seems to be beaming with life ("her lips were red") except for the fact that she is very pale, with "skin as white as leprosy"
But she is LIFE-IN-DEATH
Are those her ribs through which the Sun Did peer, as through a grate? And is that Woman all her crew? Is that a DEATH? and are there two? Is DEATH that woman’s mate?
The ship only has DEATH and a woman on board?
Are those her sails that glance in the Sun, Like restless gossameres!
The ship's sails are like gossamers — light, ephemeral threads
she tacks no more!
the ship is now on course to them
As if it dodged a water-sprite, It plunged and tack’d and veer’d.
The ship is spoken of with flying verbs just like the albatross
I bit my arm, I sucked the blood, And cried, A sail! a sail!
The mariner draws blood so his mouth can be moist enough to speak
Ah! well a-day! what evil looks Had I from old and young! Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung.
The crewmates hang the dead bird around the mariner's neck in blame
And every tongue, through utter drought, Was wither’d at the root; We could not speak, no more than if We had been chok’d with soot.
So little water that they can't speak
And some in dreams assured were Of the spirit that plagued us so: Nine fathom deep he had followed us From the land of mist and snow.
Crewmates dream that the albatross's spirit is plaguing the men
The very deep did rot:
The ocean surface starts to get algae because it is so still?
Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.
A source of peril
As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean.
A really nice line. We know that the ship isn't truly fixed at one point, because even the calmest seas still have minor waves, but the painting imagery attempts to break us of this thought by saying "no, they are really frozen in place"
And we did speak only to break The silence of the sea!
The crew isn't talking to navigate; they only talk to fill the silence now, or perhaps because they have nothing else to do.
Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down, ‘Twas sad as sad could be;
The wind dies
We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea.
After killing the albatross, the crew sails into uncharted waters
Then all averred, I had killed the bird That brought the fog and mist. ‘Twas right, said they, such birds to slay, That bring the fog and mist.
As soon as the sun rises the next day and there is no mist, the sailors pivot and assert that the Mariner had done right to kill the bird — it was the harbinger of fog and mist!
For all averred, I had killed the bird That made the breeze to blow.
His crewmates scold the mariner for killing their good omen
The Sun now rose upon the right:
The sun is mentioned again; it still rises like normal
“God save thee, ancient Mariner! From the fiends, that plague thee thus!– Why look’st thou so?”
Quick break from the upbeat section of the retelling that the mariner was in. The wedding guest's words alert us that the Mariner looks plagued despite the story being in a hopeful spot.
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
The albatross followed them in the air ("in mist or cloud"), but it also stayed on the ship with them ("on mast or shroud"). This further emphasizes that the albatross has become a companion to the crew
vespers nine;
nine nights
And a good south wind sprung up behind; The Albatross did follow, And every day, for food or play, Came to the Mariner’s hollo!
They met the albatross and got through the ice, and now they happen to catch a northerly wind that takes them out of Antarctica. The albatross keeps following them, though,"for food or play"
As if it had been a Christian soul, We hailed it in God’s name. It ate the food it ne’er had eat, And round and round it flew. The ice did split with a thunder-fit; The helmsman steered us through!
They treat the bird as a good omen; they feed it; they make it through the ice
At length did cross an Albatross: Thorough the fog it came;
Albatross is the only other sign of life; albatrosses are birds with very large, imposing wingspans, and they probably appear breathtaking when they're the only other creature around.
Like noises in a swound!
'swound' is an archaic version of "swoon;" the noises (cracking, growling, howling of the wind) are being described as the sounds one hears when they become lightheaded and possibly faint
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken– The ice was all between.
They could see nothing but ice everywhere around them; no signs of life at all
And now there came both mist and snow, And it grew wondrous cold: And ice, mast-high, came floating by, As green as emerald.
They've gone so far south that there is ice: they've reached the South pole.
The southward aye we fled.
They continue fleeing southward
He struck with his o’ertaking wings,
The storm is anthropomorphized; it gives them chase with its wings.This establshes a link between the storm and the albatross that appears later.
The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast, Yet he can not chuse but hear;
Again, the wedding guest can't resist listening to the mariner's story
He holds him with his glittering eye– The Wedding-Guest stood still, And listens like a three years child : The Mariner hath his will.
Something about the mariner is captivating the wedding guest — he stops and listens, even though his next of kin is about to be married
He holds him with his skinny hand, “There was a ship,” quoth he.
The mariner ignores what the wedding guest says and jumps into his story
Her face, above a spotted dress of dark blue crepe-de-chine, contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an immediately perceptible vitality about her as if the nerves of her body were continually smouldering.
Although she is described as much younger, the image of Myrtle still provokes an idea of Yubaba from Spirited Away in my mind. Yubaba is an old, slightly chubby lady who exudes someone obsessed with wealth and status, just as Myrtle does. (https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/studio-ghibli/images/c/c6/Zeniba.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20170221161844)
This is a valley of ashes--a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens
This phrase reminds me of the garden of Yon Rha in Avatar the Last Airbender. He murders Katara, a main character's mother, believing that she is the last of a race that his people are attempting to genocide. Years later the story introduces us to him as an old man living with a miserable marriage, and his garden is shown to be a bit of a failure just as the rest of his life is now. This coincides with the grotesque garden in the gloomy valley of ashes here. https://static.comicvine.com/uploads/original/11131/111314117/5885609-fire16-975.jpg
The eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg are blue and gigantic--their irises are one yard high. They look out of no face, but, instead, from a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a nonexistent nose.
The eerie description of T.J. Eckleberg here hints at his omniscient capabilities, and this reminds me of the description of all the Big Brother propaganda in 1984. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Brother_(Nineteen_Eighty-Four) He has enormous eyes in some cases, and is also compared to God just as the Eckleburg billboard is.
"Whenever you feel like criticizing any one," he told me, "just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had."
This quote immediately made me think of Bill Gates and his actions, particularly with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Their foundation focuses on lifting people out of poverty, inherently acknowledging that it isn't their fault most of the time but rather the negative effects of their circumstances. What Nick's father says to him similarly highlights how circumstance can affect people, as he points out that Nick should be mindful of other people's circumstances and the effects they may have on them. https://www.gatesfoundation.org/