Share this page: It is an ancient Mariner, And he stoppeth one of three. " By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stopp'st thou me? " -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) He holds him with his glittering eye-- The Wedding-Guest stood still. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) And ice, mast-high, came floating by, As green as emerald. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) "God save thee, ancient Mariner! From the fiends that plague thee thus! -- Why look'st thou so?" -- With my cross-bow I shot the Albatross. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew, The furrow followed free; We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) As idle as a painted ship Upon a painted ocean. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) Water, water, everywhere, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, everywhere, Nor any drop to drink. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) The Sun's rim dips; the stars rush out: At one stride comes the dark. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) "I fear thee, ancient Mariner! I fear thy skinny hand! And thou art long, and lank, and brown, As is the ribbed sea-sand." -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide, wide sea! And never a soul took pity on My soul in agony. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) And a thousand thousand slimy things Lived on; and so did I. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) Oh! Sleep it is a gentle thing Beloved from pole to pole, To Mary Queen the praise be given! She sent the gentle sleep from Heaven, That slid into my soul. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) Then like a pawing horse let go, She made a sudden bound. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) Like one, that on a lonesome road Doth walk in fear and dread, And having once turned round walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows, a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) I pass, like night, from land to land; I have strange power of speech. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) He prayeth best, who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) He went like one that hath been stunned, And is of sense forlorn; A sadder and a wiser man, He rose the morrow morn. -- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798) And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin Is pride that apes humility. -- "The Devil's Thoughts" (1799) The frost performs its secret ministry Unhelped by any wind. -- "Frost at Midnight" (1798) From his brimstone bed at break of day A walking the Devil is gone, To visit his snug little farm the Earth, And see how his stock goes on. -- "The Devil's Thoughts" (1799) But oh! each visitation Suspends what nature gave me at my birth, My shaping spirit of imagination. -- "Dejection: an Ode" (1802) On awaking he ... instantly and eagerly wrote down the lines that are here preserved. At this moment he was unfortunately called out by a person on business from Porlock. -- "Kubla Khan" (1816), preliminary note In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree: Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man Down to a sunless sea. -- "Kubla Khan" (1816) A savage place! as holy and enchanted As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted By woman wailing for her demon lover. -- "Kubla Khan" (1816) A damsel with a dulcimer In a vision once I saw: It was an Abyssinian maid, And on her dulcimer she played, Singing of Mount Abora. -- "Kubla Khan" (1816) And all who heard should see them there, And all should cry, Beware! Beware! His flashing eyes, his floating hair! Weave a circle round him thrice, And close your eyes with holy dread, For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise. -- "Kubla Khan" (1816) Alas! they had been friends in youth; But whispering tongues can poison truth. -- "Christabel" (1816) Until you understand a writer's, presume yourself ignorant of his understanding. -- Biographia Literaria (1817) No man was ever yet a great poet, without being at the same time a profound philosopher. -- Biographia Literaria (1817) That willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith. -- Biographia Literaria (1817) To see him act, is like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning. -- Of Edmund Kean. In: Table Talk (1835) Shakespeare ... is of no age -- nor of any religion, or party or profession. The body and substance of his works came out of the unfathomable depths of his own oceanic mind. -- Table Talk (1835) Reviewers are usually people who would have been poets, historians, biographers, etc., if they could; they have tried their talents at one or at the other, and have failed; therefore they turn critics. -- Seven Lectures on Shakespeare and Milton (delivered 1811-12; published 1856) The innumerable multitude of Wrongs By man on man inflicted. -- Religious Musings Share this page:

The selection of the above quotes and the writing of the accompanying notes was performed by the author David Paul Wagner. About Us • Contact Us • Privacy • Terms of Use © 2005-23 Wide World of Quotes. All Rights Reserved.