The Rime of the Ancient Mariner / Referenced By

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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.

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.

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."
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.

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.

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.

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.

Referenced By / The Rime of the Ancient Mariner