a
character in a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge which deals with the
supernatural punishment and penance of a seaman who had heartlessly
shot an albatross, a
bird of good omen, in the Antarctic regions.
the
main character of the poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, written in the
late 1700s by
English poet and
philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). In the poem, the ancient mariner is a crewman on a
ship who
inexplicably shoots down a friendly albatross. Consequently, after a curse falls on the
ship and it is stranded under the
burning sun, the
crew condemn the mariner hanging the
dead albatross around his neck. Soon a
ghost ship passes and all of the mariner's shipmates die, leaving him alone. The curse is finally
lifted when the mariner repents, and his
ship miraculously sails
home. However, for penance he must wander the
world recounting his tale as a warning to others.