This is a poem that was published in 1798. It begins when an old mariner stops a man who is on the way to wedding and begins to tell him the story of his life. He tells of a voyage he was on in the Antarctic and how an albatross (one of the largest birds in the world, they have the largest wing-span of any living binds ~ 12 feet) led them away from an ice jam which threatened to trap the ship. Even as the crew is praising the bird for helping them the mariner shoots it dead. The poem is about the costs of a senseless act of violence - of killing an innocent.
The poem turns somewhat supernatural as their ship eventually encounters a boat commanded by a deathly-pale woman (who represents life-in-death) & death itself. With a roll of the dice death wins the lives of the rest of the crew but the mariner suffers Life-In-Death for committing the crime of killing the albatross.
One by one his crew-mates die and the mariner can only look on. Eventually, the mariner manages to pray, and the albatross (which his crew-mates had forced him to wear around his neck) falls from his neck and the bodies of the crew, possessed by good spirits, rise up again and help to steer the ship.
Eventually, the mariner finds land and is forced to tell his story to those he meets as penance.
This was an interesting read - recommended if you like poetry and are patient enough to read the older English writing style.
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