Albatross (metaphor)

Uncommon card · No. 121858

An albatross is a metaphor for a psychological or social burden (most often associated with guilt or shame) that feels like a curse. It is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798), in which a dead albatross is tied around the neck of a sailor who has brought misfortune to the crew.