Poet’s Corner: Coleridge–Rime 17

20 April 2026

(19 December 2014) Welcome back for another installment of the Poet’s Corner! Last week we saw the pilot boat approach the Mariner’s ship and notice how strange it appears. As soon as the pilot’s boat reaches the ship, something odd happens (what a shock!):

The boat came closer to the ship,
But I nor spake nor stirred;
The boat came close beneath the ship,
And straight a sound was heard.

Under the water it rumbled on,
Still louder and more dread:
It reached the ship, it split the bay;
The ship went down like lead.

Stunned by that loud and dreadful sound,
Which sky and ocean smote
Like one that hath been seven days drowned
My body lay afloat;
But swift as dreams, myself I found
Within the pilot’s boat.

Something happens to the ship, and all the Mariner tells us is that a strange sound was heard, and then the boat split down the middle, suddenly sinking and casting the Mariner into the water. However, someone in the boat–likely the Hermit for reasons that we will soon see–drags the Mariner in to safety, although he looks like he is ‘seven days drowned,’ meaning that he looks bloated with sea water, and very dead, so when he stirs and speaks to the Hermit, all in the boat are frightened out of their wits:

I moved my lips – the pilot shrieked
And fell down in a fit;
The holy hermit raised his eyes,
And prayed where he did sit.

I took the oars: the pilot’s boy,
Who now doth crazy go,
Laughed loud and long, and all the while
His eyes went to and fro.
‘Ha! ha! ‘ quoth he, ‘full plain I see,
The devil knows how to row.’

The pilot faints from fear; the Hermit prays for deliverance, and the boy laughs maniacally, believing the Mariner is the devil incarnate, rowing himself to shore! Next time (Wednesday) we will experience the dramatic conclusion to Coleridge’s master work. Until then, good reading!