The Ancient Mariner
/ði ˌeɪnʃənt ˈmærɪnə(r)/
/ði ˌeɪnʃənt ˈmærɪnər/
(also The Rime of the Ancient Mariner)
- a long poem (1798) by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In it an old sailor tells a wedding guest how he once shot an albatross (= a large sea bird considered lucky by sailors). His friends hung the bird around his neck as a punishment. They all died of thirst, and he was left alive to tell his story to anyone who would listen. The best-known lines from the poem are these: “Water, water, everywhereNor any drop to drink.”
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The Ancient Mariner