Referenced By / The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

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Comic Books

• Issue seven of Swamp Thing (volume one) opens with the "doth walk in fear and dread" quote, while showing Swamp Thing few steps behind a man who really is scared to turn and look behind him again.
• "The Not-So-Ancient Mariner" is one of Carl Barks's last Donald Duck comics. Donald hopes to win a cruise by entering a contest about nautical poems. He studies like crazy to memorize as many and as much as possible, until, in a daze, he is left muttering "Why look'st thou so?'—With my crossbow I shot the albatross!". This, of course, is the answer to the question he gets. The line remains a motif for the hijinks that ensue once on board.

Fanworks

• In Infinity Train: Blossoming Trail, Chloe writes a story of a boy cursed to chased after a wish-granting shapeshifter — inspired by her hatred for Mew and Childhood Friend Goh — that, when Titus reads it, describes it like the tale of the sailor who shot an albatross.

Films — Animation

• In Ice Age: Continental Drift, Sid moans "Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink... except maybe this one", and takes a sip of seawater, which causes him to pucker violently.

Films — Live-Action

• Serenity has an extended comparison between River and the albatross.
  Mal: Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint.
• The Lighthouse is a Whole-Plot Reference to the poem, and all hell breaks loose when one of the lighthouse keepers kills a seagull out of frustration with working such a grueling job.
  Wake: Seen ye sparrin’ with a gull- leave ‘em be. Bad luck to kill a seabird.

• Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory had Wonka himself reference a certain line, though he changed the wording a bit to fit the Fizzy Lifting Drink Room.
  Wonka: Bubbles, bubbles everywhere, not a drop to drink.
• Dr. Igora in Monster Brawl introduces Frankenstein by quoting the poem.
  Dr. Igora: Like one who on a lonely road doth walk in fear and dread, and having wants of turning around walks on, and turns no more his head, because he knows a frightful fiend doth close behind him tread: Frankenstein!

Literature

• The Mariner appears as a character in Keys to the Kingdom by Garth Nix.
• At the end of Animorphs, Marco compares Jake's survivor guilt to "the Ancient Mariner and his albatross".
• Frankenstein:
  • The original novel by Mary Shelley references the poem several times. At one point Captain Walton, the narrator of the framing device, even explicitly says:
    Captain Walton: I am going to unexplored regions, to "the land of mist and snow"; but I shall kill no albatross; therefore do not be alarmed for my safety or if I should come back to you as worn and woeful as the "Ancient Mariner".
  • Frankenstein himself makes a more oblique reference to the poem later on when he says that his promise to create a female companion for the creature is a "deadly weight yet hanging round [his] neck, and bowing [him] to the ground."
• Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency uses the poem as a major plot point. It turns out to be the narrative of the alien ghost being marooned on Earth, and the "slimy things" that "did crawl with legs/upon the slimy sea" are the first Terran life-forms.
• Referenced a couple of times in Welkin Weasels.
• The Nautical Ballad of Ben Bo Bohns mentions the Flying Dutchman and the ship of the Ancient Mariner as the other two phantom ships to sail the Western Seas.
• In The Pearl And The Pumpkin, the Ancient Mariner is one of the guests at Davy Jones' Locker, a boarding house for drowned seamen of all stripes. He's the first to try to get his hands on Joe's pumpkin-growing secret.
• In There's More Than One Way Home, Val quotes, "And 'til my ghastly tale is told/This heart within me burns."

Live-Action TV

• One Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch has a carnival vendor who has an albatross around his neck — because he's selling them.

Music

• The Iron Maiden Filk Song "Rime of the Ancient Mariner".
• The Public Image Ltd. song "Albatross".
• The Slint song "Good Morning, Captain"
• The Captain Dan & the Scurvy Crew song "Rime of the Hip Hop Mariners".
• Sting references "the wide, wide sea," a recurring line from the poem, in his Concept Album The Soul Cages.
• The Bastille song "Weight of Living, Pt. I".

Tabletop Games

• The Giant Albatross card from Magic: The Gathering.
  • The poem is also quoted in the flavor text of cards Scathe Zombies, Wall of Ice and Will-o-the-Wisp.

Video Games

• Rather stealthily in Golden Sun: The Lost Age, where you find a Djinni named Rime in the older part of Lemuria... home of the ancient mariner Piers.
• The Marathon trilogy has quite a few references to the poem, such as the level name "One Thousand Thousand Slimy Things".
• Kingdom of Loathing has in a pirate ship an ancient mariner with an albatross around his neck (which you can get if you have "Unusual Fashion Sense").
• Guild Wars Factions has a quest series involving a man named Samti Kohlreg who quotes and paraphrases the poem whenever he speaks.
• Sunless Sea quotes the "alone, alone, all, all, alone/alone on a wide wide sea" bit when you take the "eat your crew" option at Kingeater's Castle.
  • There's also a random port event called "A Glittering Eye", where your captain is accosted by a long, lank man with a story to tell you. Depending on your choices, the captain can fall asleep in the middle of the story and wake up to realise they've been pickpocketed, or turn the tables on the Mariner with terrifying sea stories of your own, impressing him enough to reward the captain with fragments of secrets.
• A ghost known as the Old Mariner appears on the beach on rainy days in Stardew Valley. He's the one to hand you the Mermaid's Pendant.
• XCOM: Chimera Squad has the Progeny, a faction of human-supremacist psionics who occasionally quote the Rime. Having Shelter on your team reveals that their leader, Violet, was repeating it to herself over and over like a sort of Madness Mantra whilst in ADVENT captivity.
• Feral has a quest with the option to free a captive albatross. Upon doing so, the player character warns the albatross to "stay away from old mariners".

Western Animation

• An old sailor tries to gull the Scotsman into hearing the story in Samurai Jack. The Scotsman is having none of it, but apparently, Jack enjoyed the tale.
• The Justice League episode "To Another Shore" ends with Wonder Woman giving a Viking Prince a Viking Funeral. As she does so, she reads part of this poem.
• The title of the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Water, Water Every Hare", both a Literary Allusion Title and a Pun-Based Title.
• Jackie Chan Adventures: In "The Stronger Evil", in reference to Shendu's death in the previous episode, Valmont says Jackie Chan did him a favor by eliminating his albatross.
• In the Silly Symphonies short "Mother Goose Goes Hollywood", Katharine Hepburn as Little Bo Peep goes from the Nursery Rhyme to the poem with the lines: "I'm Little Bo Peep. I've lost my sheep. Water, water everywhere and not a sheep in sight."
• In The Simpsons episode "Boy-Scoutz 'n the Hood", Homer is lost at sea in a small raft. After becoming delerious due to sunstroke and dehydration, he tries to drink from the sea, declaring: "Water, Water, Everywhere, So Let's All Have A Drink."

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