The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Summary: A Concise Overview of the Essay

The Albatross To hang an albatross around ones neck is to symbolize shame, but from what is this symbol derived? Is it because an albatross is so heavy that when hung around the neck it causes one to hang their head, as to implement shame? Or could it be that it was a figure of speech given to one that carried a guilt that was as large and weighted as an albatross is big and heavy, and therefore carried that shame for all to see as an albatross around the neck? But why an albatross, which was considered to be a sign of good luck? In Samuel Taylor Coleridges The Rime of the Ancient Marinerall questions are answered as to how and why an albatross hung around the neck is considered to be shameful and almost a curse. In the beginning of Coleridges poem, the albatross was a sign of good luck to the men on board a lost ship. At length did cross an Albatross... As if it had been a Christian soul (lines 63-65). The crew, whos ship had been driven off course by a terrible storm, had seen this bird as an angel of God, for they knew that where there were birds, there was land. They greeted the bird with joy, happiness, and renewed hope that they would somehow find their way home again. They followed the omen which led them out of the ice and fog. The albatross had saved the crew, both physically and emotionally by increasing the ships morale as they ...hailed it in Gods name (line 66).