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The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a la Shmoop. Have you ever made a little mistake that turned

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out to be… way bigger than you expected?

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That little white lie that somehow snowballed until the FBI got involved?

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The forgotten paper cut that eventually gave you your new nickname, “Stumpy?”

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In Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, a Daryl Dixon wannabe shoots down a lovely,

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innocent albatross.

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Bummer, right? Especially for all you animal lovers out there.

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But when the trigger-happy Mariner’s ship stalls on the ocean, and the rest of the crew

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suddenly croaks, he really starts to second-guess himself.

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It takes a spiritual epiphany and a lot of walking corpses to get our Mariner back to

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business… pestering happy wedding guests. Just what is Coleridge trying to get at with

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all this praying, redemption, and resurrection?

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Is a bird just a bird, or does it stand for something more… inspirational?

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Could Coleridge’s albatross be a symbol for Jesus Christ?

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Could be.

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By the middle of the voyage, the sailors are all pretty bored, and missing their parakeets

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back home.

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The albatross becomes sort of a mascot to them.

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They treat him like a Christian soul, which is pretty high praise for a creature that

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takes poop deck literally.

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Plus, in Christian metaphors, Jesus is sometimes compared to a bird. Which definitely beats

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a sea slug, or manatee. Have you ever heard the expression… an albatross

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around your neck?

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The Mariner’s dead-bird accessory isn’t only a symbol of his screw-up, but of the

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human burden of sin.

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The Mariner tells us, Instead of the cross, the Albatross around my neck was hung.

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Sure, it’s a lot lighter than a cross, but not what you’d call…pine fresh.

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It seems pretty obvious that the Albatross is there to teach the Mariner a lesson.

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When the sailor blesses the sea creatures, his feathered accessory falls from his neck.

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He feels a… spring of love… and praises Heaven and Jesus’ mom, the Virgin Mary.

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The Mariner also gets a little of that forgiveness that J.C. is known for…

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…but now he’s got to do a lifetime of community service as penance.

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These all seem like pretty strong arguments for a Christian allegory. But what about the

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poet behind the scenes?

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Coleridge’s dad wanted him to go career with Christianity, but Sam wasn’t into it.

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Instead, he became a rebel with too many causes.

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Coleridge dropped out of college, got hooked on opium, joined a commune, and married one

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woman while in love with another.

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His radical, free-thinking opinions earned him a pretty scandalous reputation…

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Would Coleridge himself have agreed with the Christ-albatross connection?

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So is there a religious back story to our feathered homicide victim?

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Does the albatross symbolize Christ or the cross?

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Is it just there to get the Mariner into church?

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Or would Coleridge laugh at the notion that there’s any connection?

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Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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