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'Instead of the cross, the Albatross About my neck was hung'

When an albatross leads a stricken ship out of treacherous ice, a hapless mariner shoots the bird, arousing the wrath of spirits who pursue the ship. Haunted by Death, the crew begin to perish one by one, until only the cursed mariner remains to confront his guilt. As penance for his actions he is condemned to wander the earth, telling his tale to those he meets as a warning.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is Samuel Taylor...

In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, one of the best-known and best-loved poems in the English language, a grizzled old sailor stops a man on his way to a wedding and tells a terrifying story. He speaks of how he doomed the crew of his ship by shooting dead an albatross, awakened the wrath of ocean spirits, met Death himself, and must now walk the earth forever and share his tragic tale of sin, guilt and - ultimately - redemption.

This Macmillan Collector's Library edition of Coleridge's longest major poem features illustrations by Gustave Dore, the most remarkable wood...