where did light as a feather stiff as a board come from
Light as a feather, stiff as a board The oldest known account of levitation play comes from the diary of Samuel Pepys (1633-1703), a British naval administrator. Pepys’s account of levitation play comes from a conversation with a friend of his, Mr. Brisband, who claimed to have seen four little girls playing light as a feather, stiff as a board in Bourdeaux, France. Pepys’s account of Mr. Brisband’s experience reads:
Albatross (metaphor) It is an allusion to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798).[1] In the poem, an albatross starts to follow a ship â€” being followed by an albatross was generally considered a sign 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. The albatross is then literally hung around the mariner's neck by the crew to symbolize his guilt in killing the bird. 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.