What do you know about the Background of the Poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner It is believed that Coleridge wrote the poem The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner inspired by James Cook's second voyage He traveled the southern seas and the Pacific Ocean Coleridge's teacher William Wales was an astronomer He had a very good relationship with James Cook According to the fables he crossed the Arctic three times only to find the soil of the Great Australian subcontinent According to Wordsworth Coleridge was inspired to write this poem when Wordsworth Coleridge and Wordsworth's sister Dorothy walked through the Quantock Hills in Somerset They were talking about a book Wordsworth was reading this book at the time This book tells the story of a heartbroken sailor's voyage in This sailor's name was Simon Hatley He killed a black albatross on his voyage But Coleridge said in his Biographia