L'ALBATROSS - A LYRICAL BALLAD
L’Albatross - A Lyrical Ballad
It’s a bird…..It’s a plane…….It’s Albatross
The name Albatross prompted a flashback to my school days in the 1970’s the most famous English poem “The Rhyme of The Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, an English poet. It’s a pretty great poem with strong human emotions. The albatross is considered to be a pious, good-luck sea bird. It follows the ship and is regarded as a good omen by the Mariner aka Captain.
“An Albatross appears and leads them out of the Antarctic”.
An Albatross shows up steers them through the fog and provides good wind.
“The ice was all around,
It cracked and growled,
And roared and howled,
Like noises in Sound!
Through the fog it came”.
An Albatross aloft is a spectacular sight. Albatross has the longest wingspan up to 11 ft. (3.4 meters). The wide-winged and long-lived Albatrosses are rarely seen on land preferring to stay out on the ocean except to raise and mate their young. The Albatrosses use their formidable wingspan to ride the ocean winds and sometimes to glide for hours without rest or even a flap of their wings. They also float on the sea surface. An Albatross has a life span of 50 years. The Ornithologists are fascinated by Albatross. They eat fish and drink salt water. An albatross is the most legendary of all birds.
Some people hunt Albatross with a cross bow.
“The spirit who bideth by himself
in the land of mist and snow,
He loved the bird that loved the man
Who shot him with his bow”.
Ma Nishada…..don’t shoot the bird that loved man. It reminds us of Jadayu, the legendary bird from Ramayana that tried to stop Ravana from absconding Sita.
“He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
Dear bird who loveth us
He made and loveth all.”
The poet resembles this prince of cloud and sky –
“ A wind from the South
Propelled the ship
As it returned Northward
Through fog and floating ice”.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a poet, critic, and philosopher most famous for Lyrical Ballads. He co-authored “Lyrical Ballads” a collection of poems with the famous English poet William Wordsworth.
The poem still retains its hypnotic strength.
The name Albatross featured in many works of books, fiction, songs, bands, etc. through centuries.
In Herman Melvilles’ “Moby Dick,” there is a reference to Coleridge’s Albatross which is extended to fit the narrative’s focus on the symbolic connotations of whiteness.
Albatross studio version – Fleetwood Mac is one of the greatest instrumental tracks of all time. This song is the biggest ever-selling Rock instrumental hit in the U.K. A beautiful, haunting, thought-invoking piece of music.
“Hymn before Sunrise” is a Lyrical Ballad.
“Water, water everywhere
Nor any drop to drink”.
This famous quote water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink is originated from the “Rhyme of The Ancient Mariner”.
In our life, there are many things that are plenty like the sea water but something with substance and great value like unconditional love is scarcity.
Sometimes we tend to forget the love abstract in nature. This is a quality I would like to see in the near and dear.
An Albatross that flies high developing its strongest and widest wings is an allegory for me for its sustenance in orbit for extended long hours like a hardworking species.
Long live Albatross..!!
Let the Lyrical romantic poem like, “Hymn before Sunrise “the Lyrical Ballad conquer centuries.
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