The Rime of the Ancient Mariner stage of the mariner's curse is lifted after he appreciates the sea creatures swimming in the water. Despite his cursing them as "slimy things" earlier in the poem, he suddenly sees their true beauty and blesses them ("a spring of love gush'd from my heart, and I bless'd them unaware"); suddenly, as he manages to pray, the albatross falls from his neck and his guilt is partially expiated. The bodies of the crew, possessed by good spirits, rise again and help steer the ship. In a trance, the mariner hears two spirits discussing his voyage and penance, and learns that
Anna Hempstead Branch the first time by Houghton Mifflin in 1901 Branch's reputation was made with her next two collections, both heavily influenced by the work of the Pre-Raphaelites, especially Christina Rossetti. "The Shoes That Danced" (1905) features odd settings and characters. "Rose of the Wind" (1910) contains "The Wedding Feast", a reworking of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and her most famous single poem, "Nimrod", a blank verse epic about the ancient king. The title work, a dramatic poem, was staged at the Empire Theatre in 1908. "Sonnets from a Lock Box" (1929) is regarded as her