Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a haunting epic poem about a man condemned to atone for his sins by sailing with an undead crew for a time.
The poem follows a mariner whose sin is having killed an albatross, a bird believed to be lucky or blessed by his shipmates. Upon killing the bird, the ship runs into trouble and, slowly, the crew dies. The mariner survives, but watches as the crew returns to life and begins to work the ship as though they were alive.
“The helmsman steered, the ship moved on;
Yet never a breeze up blew;
The mariners all ‘gan work the ropes,
Were they were wont to do:
They raised their limbs like lifeless tools--
We were a ghastly crew.” (Coleridge)
It goes on to continue to describe how the now undead crew continue to sail the ship. For the crime of killing the albatross, the mariner is condemned to sail with the undead crew for a period of time until he is rescued by a harbor master.
The poem follows a mariner whose sin is having killed an albatross, a bird believed to be lucky or blessed by his shipmates. Upon killing the bird, the ship runs into trouble and, slowly, the crew dies. The mariner survives, but watches as the crew returns to life and begins to work the ship as though they were alive.
“The helmsman steered, the ship moved on;
Yet never a breeze up blew;
The mariners all ‘gan work the ropes,
Were they were wont to do:
They raised their limbs like lifeless tools--
We were a ghastly crew.” (Coleridge)
It goes on to continue to describe how the now undead crew continue to sail the ship. For the crime of killing the albatross, the mariner is condemned to sail with the undead crew for a period of time until he is rescued by a harbor master.