The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Coleridge wrote one of the most haunting narrative poems in English, about a sailor who kills an albatross and brings a curse down on his ship.
Read this if you…
- want the poem that helped inspire Moby-Dick
- like supernatural narrative poetry about respecting nature
Skip this if you…
- not interested in romantic poetry movement at all
Why It Matters
Coleridge wrote one of the most haunting narrative poems in English, about a sailor who kills an albatross and brings a curse down on his ship. The images stuck permanently: the "painted ship upon a painted ocean," the dead men standing up to crew it. "Albatross around your neck" became an idiom because the poem is that strong.
The 
Take
Awesome poem, fun supernatural deep story, mostly about not disrespecting nature. Only read this because I heard it inspired Melville to write Moby dick. Great quick read. Not too difficult to understand, but very metrical and rhymey too. Great imagery
Where to go next
- Genesis by Moses. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner built on it. - The Mariner is a sea-going Cain — and that's no accident - Coleridge had been trying to retell Genesis 4 directly in *The Wanderings of Cain*; when that collapsed ("broke up in a laugh"), *The Rime* was written in its place - The whole machinery — innocent blood shed, the mark of guilt, the curse of endless wandering — comes straight out of Cain's exile in Genesis
- Paradise Lost by John Milton. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner built on it. - Coleridge was steeped in Milton as he wrote — lecturing on *Paradise Lost*, analyzing its Satan — and the *Rime* carries a Miltonic spine - Read Milton first and the Mariner's arc reveals itself as a fall-and-curse story, with the "paradise within" reached only through suffering - That spectral Death and Life-in-Death pair is Coleridge answering Milton's Sin and Death — the lineage runs straight back to *Paradise Lost*
- Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner shaped it. - Mary Shelley wove the *Rime* straight into *Frankenstein* — Walton sails for "the land of mist and snow" but vows he "shall kill no albatross," naming Coleridge as "the most imaginative of modern poets" - Shelley heard Coleridge himself recite the poem as a child in her father's house — this is influence by living voice, not just the page - The Mariner's compulsion to confess his haunted tale to a stranger is the frame Shelley hands to her own doomed wanderers
Depicted in Art
Close portrait of the white-bearded mariner, weathered and wild-eyed, gripping the wedding-guest's arm as he begins his tale.
Gustave Doré, 1876
The dead albatross hangs around the mariner's neck as he stands shamed before his crewmates on the becalmed deck.
Gustave Doré, 1876
Preparatory gouache: the mariner adrift among floating wreckage and corpses after his ship founders within sight of home.
Gustave Doré, 1875
The mariner kneels on deck, crossbow raised, the great albatross plummeting from the rigging — the crew watching in horror.
Gustave Doré, 1876
The ship beset in polar ice, masts furred with frost, towering bergs closing in around the tiny hull.
Gustave Doré, 1876
Recommended Editions
Penguin Classics
1997
William Keach's Penguin gives you the Rime alongside Kubla Khan, Christabel, and the conversation poems. Having Coleridge's range in one volume is what makes this the working reader's edition, and the notes don't overreach.
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Deep Dive
What It's About
This summary gives away plot details.
Notable Quotes
“Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.”
“Water, water, every where, And all the boards did shrink; Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink.”