[31.] The Nightmare Life-in-Death. In this strange being 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.