Have you ever heard someone refer to a problem in their life as their personal albatross? Were you confused by what it meant? It typically means that the person feels like they have been cursed psychologically. This metaphor refers to Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. In the poem, an albatros follows a sailing ship. The Albatros is typically thought of as a good omen. When a man on the ship shoots the bird, the boat is then cursed. He wears the dead bird around his neck as a symbol of the curse. Eventually everyone on the boat dies as a result. This can mean that the symbol of the albatross can be either good or bad. This saying became popular in the 1960s, and can even be found in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It is also part of the film White Squall, where the captain mentions that the albatross is a good omen for sailors and they will carry their souls into heaven.
| January 28th, 2012 | Posted in Parenting |