Albatross (metaphor) Albatross (metaphor) The word albatross is sometimes used metaphorically to mean a psychological burden that feels like a curse. It is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798). In the poem, an albatross starts to follow a ship — being followed by an albatross was generally considered a sign of good luck. However, the titular mariner shoots the albatross with a crossbow, which is regarded as an act that will curse the ship (which indeed suffers terrible mishaps). Even when they are too thirsty to speak, the ship's crew let the mariner know
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor son Samuel Coleridge Taylor after the poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Alice lived with her father Benjamin Holmans and his family after she had the boy. Her father was a skilled farrier and was married to another woman than her mother; they had four daughters and at least one son. Alice and her father called her son Coleridge. The family lived in Croydon. In 1887 Alice Martin married George Evans, a railway worker. Their street had a railway line at its end. Taylor was brought up in Croydon, Surrey. There were numerous musicians on his mother's side and her father played