The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems of the Romantic Era | Ode on Melancholy

Ode on Melancholy

I.

No, no, go not to Lethe, neither twist
Wolf's-bane, tight-rooted, for its poisonous wine;
Nor suffer thy pale forehead to be kiss'd
By nightshade, ruby grape of Proserpine;
Make not your rosary of yew-berries,
Nor let the beetle, nor the death-moth be
Your mournful Psyche, nor the downy owl
A partner in your sorrow's mysteries;
For shade to shade will come too drowsily,
And drown the wakeful anguish of the soul.

II.

But when the melancholy fit shall fall
Sudden from heaven like a weeping cloud,
That fosters the droop-headed flowers all,
And hides the green hill in an April shroud;
Then glut thy sorrow on a morning rose,
Or on the rainbow of the salt sand-wave,
Or on the wealth of globed peonies;
Or if thy mistress some rich anger shows,
Emprison her soft hand, and let her rave,
And feed deep, deep upon her peerless eyes.

III.

She dwells with Beauty—Beauty that must die;
And Joy, whose hand is ever at his lips
Bidding adieu; and aching Pleasure nigh,
Turning to Poison while the bee-mouth sips:
Ay, in the very temple of delight
Veil'd Melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of none save him whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy's grape against his palate fine;
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might,
And be among her cloudy trophies hung.
  • the river of forgetfulness, one of five rivers in the Greek underworld; the others are Acheron and Cocytus for woe and sorrow, Styx, which the gods would swear by, and Phlegethon, the river of fire.
  • a type of poisonous plant
  • a poisonous mushroom
  • Persephone, daughter of Ceres and wife of Hades
  • prayer beads made of poisonous berries
  • the Greek notion of the soul; it is the root for the modern word psychology.
  • a sovereign
  • the roof of the mouth