Who wrote 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner', referenced in Frankenstein?

The writer of “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” referenced in Frankenstein, was Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The poem was written in 1797–98 and first published in the 1798 collection Lyrical Ballads, which Coleridge produced with William Wordsworth.

The poem tells of a sailor who kills an albatross and suffers a supernatural punishment, becoming compelled to retell his story. Its themes of guilt, isolation, nature, suffering, and spiritual responsibility overlap with important concerns in Frankenstein. Mary Shelley knew Coleridge's work, and the novel refers to the poem directly; its imagery also resonates with Victor's pursuit of knowledge and the creature's experiences of alienation.

Wordsworth is a common mix-up because he co-authored Lyrical Ballads and contributed most of the poems in its first edition. However, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is Coleridge's poem. The work is also sometimes encountered under the shortened title The Ancient Mariner, especially in the revised 1800 edition.