ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Unable to speak due to lack of water, the ship’s crew let the mariner know through their glances that they blame him for their plight and they tie the bird around his neck as a sign of his guilt. From this arose the image of an albatross around the neck as metaphor for a burden that is difficult to escape.

Detailed explanation-2: -Good omens in life and bad omens in death, albatrosses have become symbols of both good and bad luck. Fittingly, while some real albatrosses have been fortunate, others have had tough luck.

Detailed explanation-3: -albatross around one’s neck. A heavy burden of guilt that becomes an obstacle to success, as in The failed real estate scheme became an albatross around her neck, for now she could not interest other investors in a new project.

Detailed explanation-4: -After a pair chooses each other as steady dance partners, Taylor says they usually stay together for life. “Albatrosses have the lowest divorce rate of any known bird. So they’re considered the most faithful and loyal bird that’s ever been studied."

Detailed explanation-5: -Early European sailors, voyaging across the vast and icy Southern Oceans, purportedly believed that an albatross should not be killed, for it housed the restless souls of drowned sailors, and it would bring bad weather. superstition is not to be found before Coleridge’s infamous Rime of the Ancient Mariner.