The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is probably the best known of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. One of its interesting components, whether Coleridge realized it or not is that it recounts the story of Initiation through the Levels....

PART I
An ancient Mariner meeteth three gallants bidden to a wedding feast, and detaineth one.	IT is an ancient Mariner,
	And he stoppeth one of three.
	'By thy long beard and glittering eye,
	Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?
	The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide,	5
	And I am next of kin;
	The guests are met, the feast is set:
	May'st hear the merry din.'
	He holds him with his skinny hand,
	'There was a ship,' quoth he.	10
	'Hold off! unhand me, grey-beard loon!'
	Eftsoons his hand dropt he.
The Wedding-Guest is spell-bound by the eye of the old seafaring man, and constrained to hear his tale.	He holds him with his glittering eye�?/TD>
	The Wedding-Guest stood still,
	And listens like a three years' child:	15
	The Mariner hath his will.
	The Wedding-Guest sat on a stone:
	He cannot choose but hear;
	And thus spake on that ancient man,
	The bright-eyed Mariner.	20
	'The ship was cheer'd, the harbour clear'd,
	Merrily did we drop
	Below the kirk, below the hill,
	Below the lighthouse top.
The Mariner tells how the ship sailed southward with a good wind and fair weather, till it reached the Line.	The Sun came up upon the left,	25
	Out of the sea came he!
	And he shone bright, and on the right
	Went down into the sea.
	Higher and higher every day,
	Till over the mast at noon—�?	30
	The Wedding-Guest here beat his breast,
	For he heard the loud bassoon.
The Wedding-Guest heareth the bridal music; but the Mariner continueth his tale.	The bride hath paced into the hall,
	Red as a rose is she;
	Nodding their heads before her goes	35
	The merry minstrelsy.
	The Wedding-Guest he beat his breast,
	Yet he cannot choose but hear;
	And thus spake on that ancient man,
	The bright-eyed Mariner.	40
The ship drawn by a storm toward the South Pole.	'And now the Storm-blast came, and he
	Was tyrannous and strong:
	He struck with his o'ertaking wings,
	And chased us south along.
	With sloping masts and dipping prow,	45
	As who pursued with yell and blow
	Still treads the shadow of his foe,
	And forward bends his head,
	The ship drove fast, loud roar'd the blast,
	The southward aye we fled.	50
	And now there came both mist and snow,
	And it grew wondrous cold:
	And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
	As green as emerald.
The land of ice, and of fearful sounds, where no living thing was to be seen.	And through the drifts the snowy clifts	55
	Did send a dismal sheen:
	Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken�?/TD>
	The ice was all between.
	The ice was here, the ice was there,
	The ice was all around:	60
	It crack'd and growl'd, and roar'd and howl'd,
	Like noises in a swound!
Till a great sea-bird, called the Albatross, came through the snow-fog, and was received with great joy and hospitality.	At length did cross an Albatross,
	Thorough the fog it came;
	As if it had been a Christian soul,	65
	We hail'd 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 steer'd us through!	70
And lo! the Albatross proveth a bird of good omen, and followeth the ship as it returned northward through fog and floating ice.	And a good south wind sprung up behind;
	The Albatross did follow,
	And every day, for food or play,
	Came to the mariners' hollo!
	In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,	75
	It perch'd for vespers nine;
	Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
	Glimmer'd the white moonshine.'
The ancient Mariner inhospitably killeth the pious bird of good omen.	'God save thee, ancient Mariner!
	From the fiends, that plague thee thus!�?/TD>	80
	Why look'st thou so?'�?With my crossbow
	I shot the Albatross.

PART II
'The Sun now rose upon the right:
Out of the sea came he,
Still hid in mist, and on the left	85
Went down into the sea.
And the good south wind still blew behind,
But no sweet bird did follow,
Nor any day for food or play
Came to the mariners' hollo!	90
His shipmates cry out against the ancient Mariner for killing the bird of good luck.	And I had done an hellish thing,
	And it would work 'em woe:
	For all averr'd, I had kill'd the bird
	That made the breeze to blow.
	Ah wretch! said they, the bird to slay,	95
	That made the breeze to blow!
But when the fog cleared off, they justify the same, and thus make themselves accomplices in the crime.	Nor dim nor red, like God's own head,
	The glorious Sun uprist:
	Then all averr'd, I had kill'd the bird
	That brought the fog and mist.	100
	'Twas right, said they, such birds to slay,
	That bring the fog and mist.
The fair breeze continues; the ship enters the Pacific Ocean, and sails northward, even till it reaches the Line.	The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
	The furrow follow'd free;
	We were the first that ever burst	105
	Into that silent sea.
The ship hath been suddenly becalmed.	Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,
	'Twas sad as sad could be;
	And we did speak only to break
	The silence of the sea!	110
	All in a hot and copper sky,
	The bloody Sun, at noon,
	Right up above the mast did stand,
	No bigger than the Moon.
	Day after day, day after day,	115
	We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
	As idle as a painted ship
	Upon a painted ocean.
And the Albatross begins to be avenged.	Water, water, everywhere,
	And all the boards did shrink;	120
	Water, water, everywhere,
	Nor any drop to drink.
	The very deep did rot: O Christ!
	That ever this should be!
	Yea, slimy things did crawl with legs	125
	Upon the slimy sea.
	About, about, in reel and rout
	The death-fires danced at night;
	The water, like a witch's oils,
	Burnt green, and blue, and white.	130
A Spirit had followed them; one of the invisible inhabitants of this planet, neither departed souls nor angels; concerning whom the learned Jew, Josephus, and the Platonic Constantinopolitan, Michael Psellus, may be consulted. They are very numerous, and there is no climate or element without one or more.	And some in dreams assuréd were
	Of the Spirit that plagued us so;
	Nine fathom deep he had followed us
	From the land of mist and snow.
	And every tongue, through utter drought,	135
	Was wither'd at the root;
	We could not speak, no more than if
	We had been choked with soot.
The shipmates in their sore distress, would fain throw the whole guilt on the ancient Mariner: in sign whereof they hang the dead sea-bird round his neck.	Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
	Had I from old and young!	140
	Instead of the cross, the Albatross
	About my neck was hung.