| The Ancient Mariner is the story of a real-life sea | | | | "Fear at my heart, as at a cup, |
| voyage pervaded by a supernatural atmosphere. | | | | My life blood seemed to sip". |
| There is an eeriness in the hypnotic eyes of the | | | | The feelings evoked are very much real. Coleridge's |
| Mariner, the spectral ship with Death and nightmare | | | | treatment of the supernatural is, therefore, |
| Life-in Death as its crew dicing on the deck, the winds | | | | psychological. |
| that sound but never come near, the Polar spirit, the | | | | The Ancient Mariner thus fulfils Coleridge's part of the |
| angelic spirits entering the corpses of the mariners and | | | | joint bargain in Lyrical Ballads - to treat subjects |
| activating them, and the Mariner's ship sinking | | | | "supernatural or at least romantic", but to make them |
| mysteriously with a thundering sound coming from | | | | credible by truth to human nature and feeling, so as to |
| under the water. Terror is produced by Coleridge's | | | | cause "that willing suspension of disbelief for the |
| ability to provide visual descriptions of striking vividness. | | | | moment that constitutes poetic faith". |
| The story with its supernatural trappings is obviously | | | | The influence of the supernatural has been brought to |
| incredible, but within this framework there is the human | | | | bear not only on human nature but on phenomenal |
| reality. | | | | Nature also. Coleridge makes the natural seem |
| "God save thee, ancient mariner | | | | supernatural by ascribing to Nature something of the |
| From the fiends that plague you thus". | | | | special power and proficiency of the supernatural. The |
| Here Coleridge vividly presents the supernatural issues | | | | storm in part V is like a fantastic death's dance. The |
| by dwelling upon the hideous contortions on the face | | | | tropical sunset comes rushing with a single gigantic |
| of the Mariner. And it is by drawing our attention to the | | | | stride. Even the ice has got a terrific presence: |
| terror-stricken feelings manifested on his face that the | | | | "It creaked and growled, and roared and howled, |
| poet convinces us of the reality of the experience. We | | | | Like noises in a swound". |
| would certainly refuse to accept the supernatural | | | | The persistence of natural laws in the midst of the |
| details as real, but there is no mistaking the downright | | | | supernatural convulsions helps us to retain our grip |
| inevitable gush of frightful feelings and sensations | | | | over reality. And, of course, the figure of the wedding |
| evoked by the supernatural powers, as when the | | | | guest is a permanent link with the world of reality. |
| Mariner says | | | | |