the poet
personifies the state of a person who lives, as it were, in the shadow
of death. The condition called "nightmare" was formerly believed to be
caused by the witch Nightmare, who oppressed people during sleep.

[32.] At one stride comes the dark. This is a wonderful picture of the
sudden fall of night near the equator, where there is no twilight.

[33.] Clomb, climbed; an old form.

[34.] The horned moon, etc. Coleridge says in a note: "It is a common
superstition among sailors that something evil is about to happen
whenever a star dogs the moon."

[35.] I fear thee. The wedding guest imagined that the Mariner died
with the rest of the sailors and that he was talking with a ghost.

[36.] And thou art long, etc. This line and the line following were
written by Wordsworth.

[37.] For the sky, etc. This line, with its repetitions, and the extra
length of the stanza, tend to make one feel the load that was pressing
upon the Mariner.

[38.] Bemocked the sultry main, mocked the sultry ocean.

[39.] They moved, etc. This description is true of fish of all kinds
on a dark night when there is a great deal of phosphorus in the water.

[40.] Silly, frail.

[41.] Dank, damp, wet; seldom used in prose.

[42.] Sheen, bright, glittering.

[43.] Wan, pale.

[44.] Gan work, did work, or began to work.

[45.] Sometimes a-dropping, etc. Notice what a pleasant interlude is
made by this stanza and the three which follow.

[46.] Jargoning, confused sounds.

[47.] I fell down in a swound. The poet explains that the vessel,
driven by angelic power, sped on with extreme rapidity, and that the
Mariner was put into a trance because he could not have endured the
motion.

[48.] Two voices in the air. These were the voices of spirits who felt
the wrong that had been done to the Spirit of the South Pole by the
killing of the albatross.

[49.] Honey-dew, a sweet substance found in small drops on the leaves
of trees and plants.

[50.] If he may know, so that he may know.

[51.] For she guides him, etc., _i.e._ whether smooth or rough, the
ocean is always guided by the moon.

[52.] Charnel-dungeon, a vault where the bones of the dead are kept.

[53.] Countree, country; this form of the word occurs frequently in old
ballads.

[54.] Harbor bar, a bank of sand or other matter at the mouth of a
harbor, which obstructs navigation.

[55.] The harbor bay, etc. Notice the effect of quietness produced by
this l