The Albatross

After reading the Poem, “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere,” I would like to focus on the albatross and what it symbolizes. The Marinere and the albatross appear to be the main characters. I find the poem to be more of a moral story. Many children’s books and television series are created to portray a similar moral lesson. The lesson appears to be, do no harm or justice will prevail. When referring to justice, I mean in the sense of “an eye for an eye” form of justice. This seems to be the case as the Marinere shot the albatross, which was providing the wind for the ship or at least did not cause any harm to the Marinere. After the Marinere killed the albatross the weather changes and the crew feels this change is the Marinere’s fault for killing the bird. The crew forces the Marinere to hang the dead bird from his neck. This punishment forces the Marinere to wear his shame for everyone to see, similar to the Scarlet letter. Throughout the poem there are references to praying, the soul, death, light and God who loves all, nature included. The disconnection from nature also fits here, in that the Marinere took nature for granted and suffered the penalty as God loves all. This lesson seems to apply to global warming today.