[29-*] Note.—In 1798 there was published in England a little volume of poems known as Lyrical Ballads. This collection brought to its two young authors, Wordsworth and Coleridge, little immediate fame, but not long afterward people began to realize that much that was contained in the little book was real poetry, and great poetry. The chief contribution of Coleridge to this venture was The Ancient Mariner.
The poem as originally printed had a series of quaintly explanatory notes in the margin, and an introductory argument which read as follows:
“How a ship having passed the Line, was driven by storms to the cold Country towards the South Pole; and how from thence she made her course to the tropical latitudes of the great Pacific Ocean, and of the strange things that befell; and in what manner the Ancient Mariner came back to his own country.”
[30-1] Eftsoons means quickly. The poem is written in ballad form, and many quaint old words are introduced.
[30-2] Such rhymes as this—Mariner with hear,—were common in the old ballads which Coleridge so perfectly imitates.
[30-3] Does this line tell you anything about the direction in which they were sailing?
[30-4] Where was the ship when the sun stood “over the mast at noon”?
[31-5] Two words are to be understood in this line—“As one who is pursued.”
[31-6] Is not this an effective line? Can you think of any way in which the closeness of the foe could be more effectively suggested?
[32-7] Coleridge’s wonderful power of painting word-pictures is shown in this and the succeeding stanzas. With the simplest language he makes us realize the absolute lonesomeness and desolateness of the scene: he produces in us something of the same feeling of awe and horror that we should have were we actually in the situation he describes.