Editing The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (section)

==Inspiration for the poem==
The poem may have been inspired by [[James Cook]]'s second voyage of exploration (1772–1775) of the South Seas and the Pacific Ocean; Coleridge's tutor, [[William Wales (astronomer)|William Wales]], was the astronomer on [[HMS Resolution (1771)|Cook's flagship]] and had a strong relationship with Cook. On this second voyage Cook crossed three times into the [[Antarctic Circle]] to determine whether the fabled great southern continent [[Terra Australis]] existed.{{efn|"On 26&nbsp;January 1774 he crossed into the Antarctic Circle for the third time (having done so a second time the previous month) and four days later, at 71°10' S, 106°54' W, achieved his farthest south."<ref>{{cite book |first=Andrew C.F. |last=David |section=Cook, James (1728–1779) |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |publisher=Oxford University Press |orig-year=2004 |edition=online |date=January 2008}}</ref>}} Critics have also suggested that the poem may have been inspired by the voyage of [[Thomas James (sea captain)|Thomas James]] into the [[Arctic]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Cooke |first=Alan |year=2000 |section=Thomas James |title=Dictionary of Canadian Biography |edition=Online |url=http://www.biographi.ca/009004-119.01-e.php?&id_nbr=355 |access-date=5 March 2007}}</ref>

According to [[William Wordsworth|Wordsworth]], the poem was inspired while Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Wordsworth's sister [[Dorothy Wordsworth|Dorothy]] were on a walking tour through the [[Quantock Hills]] in [[Somerset]].<ref name="Keach">{{cite book |author-link=Samuel Taylor Coleridge |first=S.T. |last=Coleridge |editor-last=Keach |editor-first=William |year=1997 |title=The Complete Poems / Samuel Taylor Coleridge |pages=498–499 |publisher=Penguin Books}}</ref> The discussion had turned to a book that Wordsworth was reading,<ref name=Shelvocke-1726>{{cite book |first=George, Captain |last=Shelvocke |author-link=George Shelvocke |year=1726 |title=A Voyage Round The World by Way of the Great South Sea}}</ref> that described a [[privateering]] voyage in 1719 during which a melancholy sailor, [[Simon Hatley]], shot a black [[albatross]].{{efn|"We all observed, that we had not the sight of one fish of any kind, since we were come to the Southward of the [[Le Maire Strait|straits of le&nbsp;Mair]], nor one sea-bird, except a disconsolate black Albatross, who accompanied us for several days ... till Hattley, (my second Captain) observing, in one of his melancholy fits, that this bird was always hovering near us, imagin'd, from his colour, that it might be some ill omen ... He, after some fruitless attempts, at length, shot the Albatross, not doubting we should have a fair wind after it."<ref name=Shelvocke-1726/>{{rp|pp=72–73}} }}
[[File:The_Ancient_Mariner_-_geograph.org.uk_-_5120117.jpg|thumb|320px|Commemorative statue at [[Watchet]], Somerset: the albatross hangs on a rope looped around the ancient mariner's neck.
{{blockquote|<poem>"Ah! well a-day! what evil looks
Had I from old and young!
Instead of the cross, the Albatross
About my neck was hung."<ref name="STC 1869"/>{{rp|at=lines 139–142}}</poem>}}]]

As they discussed Shelvocke's book, Wordsworth proffered the following developmental critique to Coleridge, which importantly contains a reference to [[tutelary spirit]]s: "Suppose you represent him as having killed one of these birds on entering the south sea, and the tutelary spirits of these regions take upon them to avenge the crime."<ref name="Keach"/> By the time the trio finished their walk, the poem had taken shape.

Bernard Martin argues in ''The Ancient Mariner and the Authentic Narrative'' that Coleridge was also influenced by the life of Anglican clergyman [[John Newton]], who had a [[near-death experience]] aboard a [[slave ship]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Martin |first=Bernard |year=1949 |title=The Ancient Mariner and the Authentic Narrative |publisher=William Heinemann}}</ref>

The poem may also have been inspired by the legends of the [[Wandering Jew]], who was forced to wander the earth until [[Judgement Day]] for a terrible crime, found in Charles Maturin's ''[[Melmoth the Wanderer]]'', M. G. Lewis' ''[[The Monk]]'' (a 1796 novel Coleridge reviewed), and the legend of the ''[[Flying Dutchman]]''.<ref>{{cite journal | first = O. Bryan | last = Fulmer | date = October 1969 | title = The ancient mariner and the wandering jew | journal = Studies in Philology | volume = 66 | issue = 5 | pages = 797–815 | jstor = 4173656}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-first1 = John |editor-last1 = Clute |editor-first2 = John |editor-last2 = Grant | year = 1999 | title = The encyclopedia of fantasy | publisher = Macmillan | page = 210 | isbn = 978-0-312-19869-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mfjAjibERF0C&pg=PA210 }}</ref>

It is argued that the harbour at [[Watchet]] in Somerset was the primary inspiration for the poem, although some time before, John Cruikshank, a local acquaintance of Coleridge's, had related a dream about a skeleton ship crewed by spectral sailors.<ref>{{cite web |title=Samuel Taylor Coleridge |date=11 December 2016 |website=poetryfoundation.org |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/samuel-taylor-coleridge |access-date=12 December 2016}}</ref> In September 2003, a commemorative statue, by Alan B. Herriot of [[Penicuik]], Scotland, was unveiled at Watchet harbour.<ref>{{cite web |title=Coleridge and Watchet |publisher=Watchet Museum |website=watchetmuseum.co.uk |url=http://www.watchetmuseum.co.uk/coleridge-and-watchet/ |access-date=12 December 2016}}</ref>

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