In the poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, what do the shipmates of the ancient mariner hang around his neck?

During an adventure of the ancient mariner, the mariner messes up big time. He did not heed the cardinal rule of the sea; "don't shoot the albatross". The mariner does in this instance kill the bird, and this act plunges him and his crew into a nautical hell.

So, they ultimately hang the bird around the mariner's head as a constant reminder to him that he is a major idiot and that he is the reason for their misfortune. The albatross around the neck has a common meaning. It denotes a mistake that plagues the person that made. It is a specific mistake (burden) that is all to often very costly.

More Info: en.wikipedia.org

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29 Comments

Albeck1994

Ram Mohandas, the ancient mariner poem has nothing to do with America. It was a poem written by the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge an English poet

George Oliver Prince

Read this in high school, remembered some of the lines to this day

Bob Fowler

Can't help but think of the Monty Python sketch - " ALBATROSS, ALBATROSS, WHO WANTS THIS ALBATROSS"?

Bob Gorby

I wouldn’t mind Jessica Alba hung around My neck 😉

Wayne Roberts

Albatross need wind to fly as sailing ships need wind to sail. So albatross we’re seen as a good sailing omen. So to kill a good omen was seen as the reason for poor sailing conditions- no wind!

judyfr

Jay Bhattacharjee, Rime

Krishna Chandra Singh Sanger

Jay Bhattacharjee, YES not RIME but RHYME.

tbear

George Oliver Prince, Yes! 😊👍

Irene Townsend

Never heard the poem. But I do know that the Albatross, is protected here in NZ, beautiful bird.

Nigel Collier

Studied the poem 25yrs ago in English Literature so I knew this straight away

Paul Vickers

Should had got it, through Iron Maiden

dlh

Been a long time since I read the Rime of the Ancient Mariner but I did remember the Albatross,

Roslyn Russell

Got it right - and while this may be the 'cardinal rule of the sea' and the basis for the curse on the Ancient Mariner in the poem, people travelling by sea in the 19th century shot albatrosses all the time - especially on the long sea voyages to Australia. This is well documented in contemporary literature.