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
Kubla Khan these wonderful lines as the voice of Poesy itself." Critics at the end of the 19th century favoured the poem and placed it as one of Coleridge's best works. When discussing "Christabel", "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Kubla Khan", an anonymous reviewer in the October 1893 "The Church Quarterly Review" claimed, "In these poems Coleridge achieves a mastery of language and rhythm which is nowhere else conspicuously evident in him." In 1895, Andrew Lang reviewed the "Letters of Coleridge" in addition to Coleridge's "Kubla Khan", "Christabel" and "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", saying: "all these poems are 'miraculous;' all