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
Doldrums of days or weeks. Colloquially, the "doldrums" are a state of inactivity, mild depression, listlessness, or stagnation. The word may be derived from "dold," an archaic term meaning "stupid", and "-rum(s)", a noun suffix found in such words as "tantrum." The doldrums are notably described in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798), in Patrick O'Brian's novel "Desolation Island" (1978), and in Laura Hillenbrand's non-fiction book "" (2010). Additionally, the Doldrums are a fictional place in Norton Juster's novel "The Phantom Tollbooth" (1961). Noel Gallagher used the term to describe a woman stuck in the decade