Rime of the Ancient Mariner in Literature

As “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Coleridge is quite a famous document is British literature, it is only expected that it’s influence would be found in other literary pieces. Bram Stoker’s Dracula quotes The Rime. It mentions the ship, the Demeter, where terrible things happened to the crew. Moby Dick also contains references to the mariner. Herman Melville’s influence from the novel brought him to write this quote in chapter 42 of Moby Dick, "Not Coleridge first threw that spell; but God's great, unflattering laureate, Nature." References to the mariner do not only appear in novels, but in graphic novels as well. Cartoonist Hunt Emerson produced a graphic novel titled “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”, which tells the story exactly as it was written. The character Namor the Sub Mariner, got his name from the poem. Major similarities with the poem are shared in Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s Watchmen. Where a comic book within the story titled “Tales of the Black Freighter”, share the theme of a mariner’s impending doom. The Incredible Hulk from the Marvel Comics quotes lines from the poem. He argues with David Banner what exactly the albatross is meant to symbolize. The albatross it self seems to be the most popular reference that most writer include in their work. In The Conqueror Worms by Brian Keene, a character mentions that it is bad luck to kill an albatross. A poem written by D.H. Lawrence called Snake, compares and albatross to a snake. Garth Nix’s Keys to the Kingdom series, The Mariner is a powerful being that mentions accidentally shooting an albatross. In Frankenstein the poem is quoted my name, and the albatross is mentioned by Robert Walton. Not all references are meant to reference the poem immediately, some are actually meant to parody it. This can be seen in the popular children’s magazine, MAD Magazine. Issue 200 featured “The Rime of the Modern Skateboarder” , written by Tom Koch and Don Martin. The influences that the poem has are endless through out pop culture, and it will continue to influence more as long as literature continues to exist.




Alex Jorge