he dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all."

The Mariner, whose eye is bright,
Whose beard with age is hoar,
Is gone: and now the Wedding-Guest 620
Turned from the Bridegroom's door.

He went like one that hath been stunned,
And is of sense forlorn:[64]
A sadder and a wiser man
He rose the morrow morn. 625

NOTE.--The Ancient Mariner was written in 1797. The plot was suggested
by a dream related to Coleridge by one of his friends. While the story
is his own invention, he took several points from Shelvocke's Voyages
and accepted a few hints from Wordsworth, who furnished also two or
three lines of verse. In the beginning the two poets intended to work
together, but this plan was found impracticable, and Coleridge
proceeded by himself. It is easy to believe that the plot originated
in a dream, for the completed poem is one of the strangest, most
fantastic dreams that ever formed themselves in a poet's brain. So far
as its moral import is concerned, the production will hardly bear close
scrutiny, although it teaches the duty of loving all God's creatures,
both great and small. The prolonged suffering of the Mariner is a
punishment far too severe for his thoughtless act, while his four times
fifty comrades, who endure horrible tortures before dying, have been
guilty of no crime whatsoever. Still it is not necessary that every
piece of literature should teach a consistent moral lesson, and _The
Ancient Mariner_ can be enjoyed for its marvelous pictures and its
weird melody.

The form chosen by Coleridge for his production, that of the mediaeval
ballad, is peculiarly adapted to story-telling on account of the
freedom which it allows, and it has never been more artistically used
than in this instance. In harmony with the ballad form the poet uses
certain old words, such as "trow," "wist," and "countree." It will be
seen that the stanzas vary in length, and that there are occasional
irregularities in metre. In general the first and third lines of a
stanza have four feet each, while the second and fourth lines have
three feet. Only the second and fourth lines rhyme, unless the stanza
consists of more than four lines.

[1.] Next of kin, nearest relative.

[2.] Quoth, said.

[3.] Loon, worthless fellow.

[4.] Eftsoons, at once, immediately; a favorite word with the poet
Spenser.

[5.] And listens, etc. Wordsworth wrote this