The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The First Voice and Second Voice continue their conversation, explaining that nature and the supernatural are working together to sail the Mariner home, so that he can continue with the next stage of his penance. They fly away: “Fly, brother, fly! more high, more high, / Or we shall be belated: / For slow and slow that ship will go, / When the Marinere’s trance is abated” (19). They leave with the Mariner still in his trance.

After they have left, the Mariner wakes up. He is lying beside the dead Sailors. His curse returns for a moment and he is unable to pray. As quickly as the curse arrives, however, it disappears again. The Mariner contemplates nature and the sea as a light breeze begins to blow: “It rais’d my hair, it fann’d my cheek, / Like a meadow-gale of spring - / It mingled strangely with my fears, / Yet it felt like a welcoming” (20). The breeze carries the ship forward until the Mariner cries out happily as he sees his homeland in front of him. As the ship arrives in the harbor, the angels fly away quietly.

The Mariner hears the sound of oars and sees a small boat carrying a Pilot, his Boy, and a Hermit.