Context

Part I of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" finishes with that good-for-nothin' mariner killing the albatross.

Ugh.

Part II begins with the sailors being angry because their good luck charm is gone. But when the mist and fog depart, they change their minds and are glad it's dead...because it must have been bad luck.

Wrong again, sailors.

Soon their friendly breeze dies completely, and they're stranded in the motionless ocean. That's when they change back to their original position that the albatross, surely, was good luck, flip-flopping like a fish out of water...or a politician.

This is when our quote comes in, as they're lying stagnant without a fair wind to stretch their sails.

Bummer, dudes.

But what is the quote itself about? Well, to start, the whole thing is dripping with irony. The sailors are dehydrated and might start dying of thirst if they don't find something to drink. In fact, even the boards of the ship are beginning to shrink from lack of water.

But why can't they get water? Because they're stranded in a boatload of water. How's that for rain on your wedding day? Of course, it's also a very important point in the poem where everything starts to go downhill…or up current. We never really get to know what that mariner was thinking, but pretty soon he'll have a lot more to worry about than being parched.

Batten down the hatches, boys. Stormy seas lie ahead.

Where you've heard it

This quote is some seriously low-hanging fruit for just about anyone looking for a title about water.

Creating a precipitation education page? A National Geographic issue about oceanography? A World of Warcraft quest where you…water crops? Look no further than "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

We admit this quotation is a bit situational—like, um, when you're stranded on a ship in the ocean without any fresh water. Yeah, we can't really think of anything else. But hey, that doesn't mean it's pretentious. Oh, we got one. Maybe the next time you have a sudden burst of thirst when you're stranded on the john you can bust this one out… to yourself, hopefully.