The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a poem written by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1797-1798 and published in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads (1798). It is the longest significant poem that Coleridge wrote.

Popular culture

• The poem features prominently in the plot of Douglas Adams's novel Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. It is also a large influence upon Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein".
• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is also the title of a song by Iron Maiden from their 1984 album Powerslave, a 14-minute heavy metal epic based on Coleridge's poem.
• The song Good Morning Captain by American underground rock band (see also "math-rock" and "post-rock") Slint from the album Spiderland is an adaptation of this poem.
• Baseball pitcher Diego Segui, who was pitching for the Seattle Mariners at the age of 40, was tagged by sportswriters as "The Ancient Mariner".
• In the BBC nautical adventure series Hornblower Captain Sir Edward Pellew quotes "As idle as a painted ship / Upon a painted ocean" when his own frigate is becalmed in the episode "The Frogs and the Lobsters".
• In The Wizard of Oz (1939 movie), the Wizard says to the Scarecrow, "Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain!"
• Cecil F. Alexander wrote a hymn published in 1848 containing the following refrain which echoes the sentiment of the Ancient Mariner:

::All things bright and beautiful,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

::All creatures great and small,

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

::All things wise and wonderful:

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

::The Lord God made them all.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

• A portion of the poem was recited by Wonder Woman as the body and longship of the Viking Prince were sent into the Sun, during the Justice League Unlimited episode To Another Shore.
• The major themes of this epic poem are weaved throughout the film Serenity (2005) by Joss Whedon. Although never mentioned by name, the significance of the albatross is described by the main character Malcolm Reynolds.