The Rime of the Ancient Mariner a salvation story. The poem's structure is multi-layered text based on Coleridge's interest in Higher Criticism. "Like the Iliad or Paradise Lost or any great historical product, the "Rime" is a work of transhistorical rather than so-called universal significance. This verbal distinction is important because it calls attention to a real one. Like The Divine Comedy or any other poem, the "Rime" is not valued or used always or everywhere or by everyone in the same way or for the same reasons." George Whalley, in his 1946–47 essay, "The Mariner and the Albatross", suggests that the Ancient Mariner is an
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner every where, | Nor any drop to drink" has appeared widely in popular culture, but usually given in a more natural modern phrasing as "Water, water, everywhere | "But not a drop to drink""; some such appearances have, in turn, played on the frequency with which these lines are misquoted. The poem is referenced in the script of the 1939 film "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes". The Iron Maiden song "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" from their fifth studio album "Powerslave" (1984) was inspired by and based on the poem, and quotes the poem in its lyrics. A 1971 episode