"It is an ancient Mariner, And he stoppeth one of three. 'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye, Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?'"
The unfortunate passer–by turns out to be a Wedding–Guest – next of kin to the bridegroom, no less. "Unhand me, grey–beard loon!" he cries; but the Mariner "holds him with his skinny hand" and the unfortunate wedding guest is forced to listen to his sorry tale.
When the tale is told (with its theme of cruelty to an albatross), the Mariner bids the Wedding–Guest farewell, adding: "He prayeth well, who loveth well both man and bird and beast. He prayeth best, who loveth best all things both great and small; for the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all."
The Guest is so disturbed by the Mariner's grisly tale that he "Turned from the bridegroom's door. He went like one that hath been stunned, And is of sense forlorn: A sadder and a wiser man, He rose the morrow morn."
It's often said – in quzzes, for example – that the three whom the Mariner stops are on their way to a wedding. But it seems to me that they're actually on their way to the feast, which suggests that the wedding itself has already taken place.
In Verse 2 we are told that "The Bridegroom's doors are opened wide ... The guests are met, the feast is set". "May'st hear the merry din,'" says the unfortunate guest.
In the passage I've quoted above, he turns not from the church door, but from the bridegroom's door. This is presumably where the feast is taking place.
Well at least (if my interpretation is correct) he got to see the happy couple exchange their vows.
© Haydn Thompson 2017