Albatross (metaphor)

The word "albatross" is sometimes used to mean an encumbrance, or a wearisome burden. [cite web | url = http://m-w.com/dictionary/albatross | title = Albatross | work = Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary | accessdate = 2007-11-24 ] It is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" (1798).

In the poem, an albatross starts to follow a ship; being followed by an albatross was generally considered an omen of good luck. However the titular mariner shoots the albatross with a crossbow, which is regarded as an act that will curse the ship (which indeed suffers terrible mishaps). To punish him, his companions induce him to wear the dead albatross around his neck indefinitely (until they all die from the curse, as it happens). Thus the albatross can be both an omen of good or bad luck, as well as a metaphor for a burden to be carried (as penance).

The symbolism used in the Coleridge poem is its highlight. For example::Ah ! well a-day ! what evil looks:Had I from old and young !:Instead of the cross, the Albatross:About my neck was hung.

This sense is catalogued in the Oxford English Dictionary from 1936 and 1955, but it seems only to have entered general usage in the 1960s.

Also, the word albatross is used in page six of Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein", in which Robert Walton is speaking to his sister through a letter and states,"...but I shall kill no albatross...", an allusion quite clearly referring to the poem by her close acquaintance, Coleridge. The novel was first published in 1818, long before the term was introduced into the Oxford Dictionary.

Charles Baudelaire's collection of poems Les Fleurs du mal contains a poem entitled L'Albatros about men on ships who shoot the birds with bows and arrows for sport. In the final stanza, he goes on to compare the birds to poets - exiled from earth and weighed down by their giant wings.

In music

Post-Punk band Public Image ltd have a song named 'Albatross' on their 1979 album Metal Box. lyrics include:

:getting rid of the albatross:Sowing the seeds of discontent

:riding along on the crest of a wave

The progressive rock band, Pink Floyd, speaks of an albatross in their 23 minute song, Echoes. the lyrics start out:

:Overhead the albatross hangs motionless upon the air:And deep beneath the rolling waves, in labyrinths of coral caves,:The echo of a distant tide comes willowing across the sand,:And everything is green and submarine.

The experimental Scottish-born/British musician, Momus (Nick Currie), alludes to this metaphor in his 1988 song "The Charm of Innocence." The refrain is:

:I was born with the charm of innocence:On my back like a cross:Thorns upon my forehead:Round my neck I wore it:Sometimes a rabbit's claw:Sometimes an albatross

Also in musicRickie Lee Jones refers to this metaphor in her song 'The Albatross'

The lyrics begin:

There, there is my shipFinally come inI see the mast rolling on the stepsOver the garden wallI hear the sailor's callI see the albatross

Also, the Little River Band's song "Cool Change" contains the lyrics:

Well I was born in the sign of waterAnd it's there that I feel my bestThe albatross and the whales they are my brothersThere's lots of those friendly peopleAnd they're showing me ways to goAnd I never want to lose their inspiration

The punk rock band Bad Religion also references the albatross in their song "It's a Long Way to the Promised Land." The lyrics start out:

:It's a long way:To the promised land:So you better well know your way:There's a ship on the ocean:And an albatross who is trying to lead you astray

Brave Saint Saturn also has a song titled "Albatross" where they compare the albatross to the christian cross.

:Around my neck there is an albatross.:Some people think it looks, looks like a cross,:But it's not, it's - well it's an albatross.:There to remind me of who I'll never be, never be, never be.

In the song Rebels of the Sacred Heart by Irish/Californian "punk" band Flogging Molly singer Dave King sings:

"the albatross hanging round your neck, is the cross you bear for he sins he bleeds"

....comparing the albatross to the Catholic cross, the song being about life as a Irish Catholic school rebel-youngster

Hardcore/Prog band Converge have a song titled "Albatross," using the metaphor to describe the regret and guilt felt after the death of five friends.

The word albatross was also used in the poem "Snake" by D. H. Lawrence

Also in Iron Maiden's famous song "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner" (album: Powerslave)written by Steve Harris (bassist) and talks all about the rime by Coleridge.

In the song "(In The Wake Of) The Swollen Goat" by Clutch:

"Albatross on your neck and a hooker on the shore,Dog-men to the deck, there's a hooker on the—" [ [http://www.songmeanings.net/lyric.php?lid=3530822107858489550&flush=true SongMeanings | lyrics | Clutch - (In The Wake Of) The Swollen Goat ] ]

The noise rock band, An Albatross has been quoted in interviews that they chose their group's moniker in reference to the Coleridge poem.

Television

The Monty Python team, exploiting absurdist associations of ideas, gave life to the image of having an albatross around one's neck. In their sketch "Albatross", set in a cinema, an irritated man (John Cleese) dressed as an ice-cream girl tries to sell a dead albatross, the only item he has got on his ice-cream tray.

Film

* Malcolm Reynolds, the captain of Serenity (from the movie entitled Serenity) defends the notion that River Tam is an albatross to the crew and later to the Operative. He says that the Albatross was good luck until somebody killed it. When Malcolm is speaking to Inara, he then adds "Yes, I have read a poem; try not to faint." in an obvious reference to the Coleridge poem. At the end of the film, he calls River "Little Albatross."
* Robert Mandan's character in "Zapped!" (1982) is shown wearing an albatross necklace during a restaurant scene, to humorous effect.

External links

* [http://www.economist.com/daily/kallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9422949 A cartoon appearing in The Economist newspaper] that alludes to the described metaphor .

References