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What crime does the sailor commit in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner?

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Portrait of poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge — Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge, detail of an oil painting by Washington Allston, 1814; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.

In Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the titular sailor commits a crime against the "life principle" by inexplicably shooting and killing an albatross that had been following his ship.12

The bird was considered a favorable omen, and by destroying it, the mariner severed a link in the joyful communion that binds all living creatures together. This act of wanton destruction brings a curse upon the vessel, leading to the death of his shipmates and profound physical and mental torment for the mariner. As a consequence of his transgression, the crew hangs the dead bird around his neck as a symbol of his guilt and burden. His eventual redemption only begins after he recognizes the beauty in other living things and experiences an outpouring of love, allowing him to reconnect with the unity of the universe.123