open/close all folders
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 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
- On Ice Age 4: 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.
- 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."
- 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:
- 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.
- The poem is also quoted in the flavor text of cards Scathe Zombies
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.
- 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.
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 everwhere and not a sheep in sight."
