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The word albatross is sometimes used metaphorically to mean a psychological burden that feels like a curse. It is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' (1798).〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/30800.html )〕 In the poem, an albatross starts to follow a ship — being followed by an albatross was generally considered an omen of good luck. However, the titular mariner shoots the albatross with a crossbow, which is regarded as an act that will curse the ship (which indeed suffers terrible mishaps). Even when they are too thirsty to speak, the ship's crew let the mariner know through their glances that they blame his action for the curse. He feels as though the albatross is metaphorically hung around his neck - that is, when people look at him, they see him as the albatross killer and that weighs on him. Thus the albatross can be both an omen of good or bad luck, as well as a metaphor for a burden to be carried as penance. The symbolism used in the Coleridge poem is its highlight.〔 For example: This sense is catalogued in the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' from 1936 and 1955, but it seems only to have entered general usage in the 1960s, or possibly as early as 1959. Also, the word albatross is used in Letter II, Volume One of Mary Shelley's ''Frankenstein'', in which Robert Walton is speaking to his sister and states, "…but I shall kill no albatross…", an allusion quite clearly referring to the poem by her close acquaintance, Coleridge. The novel was first published in 1818, long before the term was introduced into the Oxford Dictionary. Charles Baudelaire's collection of poems Les Fleurs du mal contains a poem entitled L'Albatros about men on ships who catch the albatrosses for sport. In the final stanza, he goes on to compare the poets to the birds— exiled from the skies and then weighed down by their giant wings, till death. Finally, in Herman Melville's ''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. See ''The Rime of the Ancient Mariner'' in popular culture. Even in the poem ''Snake'' by D.H. Lawrence he mentions about the killing of Albatross by the mariner. == Film == * Malcolm Reynolds, the captain of ''Serenity'' (in the movie ''Serenity'') defends the notion that River Tam is an albatross to the crew and later to the Operative. He says that the albatross was good luck until "some idiot killed it". When Malcolm is speaking, he then adds to Inara, "Yes, I've read a poem. Try not to faint" in a reference to the Coleridge poem. At the end of the film, he calls River "Little Albatross". * In the 1996 Ridley Scott film ''White Squall'', a fictionalized account of the Ocean Academy's ship ''Albatross'', the ship's captain Christopher Sheldon makes mention of the albatross being a very good omen which "embodied the spirits of lost sailors". "Only bad luck if you kill one," he added. * The 2011 film ''Albatross'', by Niall MacCormick. * In the 2014 film ''Against the Sun'', Gene shoots an albatross, which they eat. Chief Dixon is notably upset about this, saying, "I can't believe you shot an albatross." * In the 1979 film ''The Fog'' by John Carpenter, a radio-station promo is possessed by ghostly forces to speak out and the word "albatross" is used to tell of the curse on Antonio Bay. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Albatross (metaphor)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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