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Overview
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is a narrative-driven ballad written by the British Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge
. The poem centers on an anonymous Mariner (sailor) who recounts a story about how he once wrongfully killed an albatross and went on a harrowing spiritual journey to right this wrong. Though the presence of numerous supernatural elements complicates any straightforward Christian reading, the most common interpretation of the poem sees it as a moral allegory about sin and redemption. Today, the poem is best remembered for the indelible symbol of the albatross, which has since become a cultural shorthand for any type of spiritual burden.“Rime” is an archaic spelling for “rhyme," but it is also a word for a type of frost that forms in wind and fog. Both uses of “rime” make sense in the context of the poem.
Read the free full text, a summary & analysis, an analysis of the speaker, and explanations of important quotes from “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.”
