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The Sailors are the nameless crewmembers that accompany the Mariner on his journey. The sailors are a strange case in the poem; they do not commit any sin as terrible as that of the Mariner’s shooting of the albatross, and yet they seem to be punished more horribly. The sailors in fact consider the albatross to be a good omen, and they curse the Mariner at first after he kills it. However, when in the moments after the death of the albatross dies, the wind does not abate and the fog lifts, the crew changes its mind, and says the Mariner was right to kill it. It may be that the crew’s fatal punishment arises from this change of mind, its lack of faith in its earlier (apparently correct) assessment of the albatross, or just in the weakness of its condemnation of the narrator. Or perhaps the sailors are just collateral damage in the Mariner’s own punishment. Regardless, as the ship becomes becalmed after the death of the albatross, they first become utterly dehydrated, and then fall dead when Death wins their souls in his gambling game with Life-In-Death. Later, angels eerily reanimate the Sailors, and their corpses aid in the Mariner’s penance. But unlike the Mariner, the sailors are not given life or absolution at the end of the tale, and when the Mariner hears the sailors’ souls leaving their bodies upon their deaths, it’s not at all clear where those souls are going.
Sailors Quotes in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The The Rime of the Ancient Mariner quotes below are all either spoken by Sailors or refer to Sailors. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part I
Quotes
At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name.
It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through!
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Part II
Quotes
Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.
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Part III
Quotes
With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
We could nor laugh nor wail;
Through utter drought all dumb we stood!
I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,
And cried, A sail! a sail!
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One after one, by the star-dogged Moon,
Too quick for groan or sigh,
Each turned his face with a ghastly pang,
And cursed me with his eye.
Four times fifty living men,
(And I heard nor sigh nor groan)
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
They dropped down one by one.
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Part IV
Quotes
An orphan's curse would drag to hell
A spirit from on high;
But oh! more horrible than that
Is the curse in a dead man's eye!
Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,
And yet I could not die.
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Part VI
Quotes
This seraph-band, each waved his hand:
It was a heavenly sight!
They stood as signals to the land,
Each one a lovely light;
This seraph-band, each waved his hand,
No voice did they impart –
No voice; but oh! the silence sank
Like music on my heart.
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Sailors Quotes in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
The The Rime of the Ancient Mariner quotes below are all either spoken by Sailors or refer to Sailors. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Part I
Quotes
At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name.
It ate the food it ne'er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through!
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Part II
Quotes
Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung.
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Part III
Quotes
With throats unslaked, with black lips baked,
We could nor laugh nor wail;
Through utter drought all dumb we stood!
I bit my arm, I sucked the blood,
And cried, A sail! a sail!
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One after one, by the star-dogged Moon,
Too quick for groan or sigh,
Each turned his face with a ghastly pang,
And cursed me with his eye.
Four times fifty living men,
(And I heard nor sigh nor groan)
With heavy thump, a lifeless lump,
They dropped down one by one.
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Part IV
Quotes
An orphan's curse would drag to hell
A spirit from on high;
But oh! more horrible than that
Is the curse in a dead man's eye!
Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse,
And yet I could not die.
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Part VI
Quotes
This seraph-band, each waved his hand:
It was a heavenly sight!
They stood as signals to the land,
Each one a lovely light;
This seraph-band, each waved his hand,
No voice did they impart –
No voice; but oh! the silence sank
Like music on my heart.
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