How many times have I heard that he, she, or it is an albatross around someone’s neck?
The image of a dead bird hanging heavily around someone’s neck always makes me wince a little, primarily because the albatross is unfairly vilified and targeted by those who need to place their angst on something or someone besides themselves.
I often equate the albatross to another target who is also falsely accused of causing others distress or difficulty: the black sheep.
I have a soft spot for black sheep, most probably because I was called one for a good part of my younger life by family members who were supposed to love and protect me. I once, shockingly, heard it firsthand from my beloved family member’s best friend at her wedding, to describe me. (Nice to meet you, too.) At the time, I asked myself, “How is it possible to be her matron of honor and the black sheep at the same time?” I now know that the two were never mutually exclusive.
But I digress.
The albatross has been used and abused as a metaphor for perceived and continuous problems that someone is being forced to carry: a bothersome person, a psychological burden, negative business dealings or situations that have gone awry, and even the result of being rich or famous (boo hoo, poor, entitled you).
I say hail to the albatross.
If you’ve ever read the 1798 poem “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, I don’t see how you would disagree with me that the albatross gets an unfair and untruthful bad rap.
The albatross was clearly the victim in the poem, and the sailor who so callously murdered the bird was the actual villain, which was why the rest of the crew forced him to carry it around his neck. It was the targeted and unwarranted killing of the albatross by the mariner that brought the curse upon the ship, not the bird itself.
“And I had done a hellish thing,
And it would work ’em woe:
For all averred, I had killed the bird
That made the breeze to blow.”
Masters of the sky, albatrosses have the largest wingspan of any other bird, and they can fly for months and even years without landing on solid ground. The Wright brothers’ first gliders were inspired by the albatross’s wing design.
The mighty albatross is capable of covering thousands of miles without so much as flapping their wings, and is known to travel over 10,000 miles in a single flight. They can even sleep while gliding, and land on the ocean’s surface only to hunt and feed on floating organisms, which is why they often follow fishing boats.
Albatrosses are remarkable for their exceptional flight ability, monogamous relationships, and devoted parenting.
Many albatrosses spend their first few years of life at sea, only returning to solid ground to breed. The male albatross shares a significant responsibility in raising their chicks and plays a crucial role in their survival. They are monogamous creatures and faithful partners who stay on land solely to father and raise their young. Some albatross species maintain their familial bonds for life, including their chicks.
While the poem’s narrative has given the albatross a negative connotation, it has long been a symbol of good fortune, and ancient tales extol their ability to bring good luck to seafarers. And yet, the albatross is consistently labeled as a heavy burden and a source of guilt impossible to be rid of.
In Coleridge’s epic poem, the mariner describes the psychological burden and the due penance he paid for senselessly killing the albatross by being forced to wear it around his neck as a reminder and symbol of his sin and guilt—i.e., the albatross did nothing wrong.
“Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung. “
The poem goes on to describe how every crew member on the ship dies except for the mariner. The dead albatross eventually falls off his neck, leaving the mariner forever destined to roam the earth telling the story of his survival. Some interpretations go so far as to claim that the mariner was redeemed, but I don’t see anything redeeming about his evil actions.
I think the mariner got off easy, and his being the sole survivor was grossly unfair. He never got his due. It was the albatross who should have survived.
“He went like one that hath been stunned,
And is of sense forlorn:
A sadder and a wiser man,
He rose the morrow morn.”
The albatross, central to the poem, was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time, and yet it was this innocent and unsuspecting bird that became a scapegoat—a black sheep—in the annals of history.
Frankly, and most unfortunately, I know all too well a thing or two about that.
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https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43997/the-rime-of-the-ancient-mariner-text-of-1834
