Poet’s Corner: Coleridge–Rime 2

11 March 2026

(22 August 2014) As much as I’d like to ‘delude’ myself into thinking I could share the entire “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Coleridge here in the weekly poet’s corner . . . but that would go beyond the purpose of these posts: to share and talk about the poems and poets that have influenced my own writing. I must content myself with sharing excerpts, and leave it to my readers to read the “Rime” in its entirety. Last week, we saw the Mariner catch a wedding guest with his ‘glittering eye’, holding him in place to tell his story. He relates that the ship left port and headed south to sail around the tip of South America and turn north into the Pacific. Blown into the ice of Antarctica by a storm, the Mariner and his ship encounter an albatross, seen as an omen of good, who leads them from the clutches of the ice:

At length did cross an albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God’s name.

It ate the food it ne’er had eat,
And round and round it flew.
The ice did split with a thunder-fit;
The helmsman steered us through!

And a good south wind sprung up behind;
The albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariners’ hollo!

In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white moon-shine.’

‘God save thee, ancient mariner!
From the fiends, that plague thee thus! –
Why lookst thou so? ‘ – ‘With my crossbow
I shot the albatross.

The Mariner, and the sailors, befriend this bird, almost taming it, as it leads them away from the snow and ice, and then the Mariner, for no reason ever explained (although many critics have tried to reason it out), raises his crossbow and shoots the albatross. This evil, arbitrary act lands the ship and its crew in much trouble: the worst thing that could happen to a sailing ship is for the wind to stop blowing, and that is what happens to this ship–they are caught in the ‘doldrums’ for long enough that their supply of fresh water runs out, their food runs low, and they turn on the Mariner, hanging the dead albatross about his neck to remind him of his “hellish deed.” Come back Friday for another edition of the Poet’s Corner. Good reading!