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“Willing Suspension in Disbelief” in

Coleridge’s “the Rime of Ancient
Mariner”
9 September 2016 Human (https://newyorkessays.com/essay-tag/human/)

Willing suspension in disbelief” in Coleridge’s “The Rime of Ancient Mariner”. “Willing

suspension in disbelief” is the method of bringing non-realistic, supernatural elements in
justi cation in literature. It is a way through which a writer infuses a “human interest and a
semblance of truth” into a fantastic tale, the reader would suspend judgment concerning the
implausibility of the narrative. This formula refers that the responsibility is on the readers,
rather than on the writer, to achieve it.

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This also points to the willingness of the reader to overlook the limitations of the writer, so that
it does not collide with his or her rational intellect. Coleridge devised this phrase in his
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Biographia
icon Literaria, published in 1817. During that period, the supernatural became
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completely unsophisticated among the educated people due to the emergence of new science.
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Coleridge wished to restore these elements in poetry. This concept of “willing suspension in
disbelief” explained how a modern enlightened audience might continue to enjoy this kind of
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Coleridge said, The thought suggested itself (to which of us I do not recollect) that a series of
poems might be composed of two sorts. In the one, incidents and agents were to be, in part at
least, supernatural, and the excellence aimed at was to consist in the interesting of the
a ections by the dramatic truth of such emotions, as would naturally accompany such
situations, supposing them real. And real in this sense they have been to every human being
who, from whatever source of delusion, has at any time believed himself under supernatural
agency.

For the second class, subjects were to be chosen from ordinary life…In this idea originated the
plan of the Lyrical Ballads; in which it was agreed, that my endeavours should be directed to
persons and characters supernatural, or at least Romantic; yet so as to transfer from our
inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth su cient to procure for these
shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes
poetic faith…. With this view I wrote the “Ancient Mariner” (Biographia Literaria, xiv).

Coleridge wrote the poem in such a way that it invokes the reader to believe in it. The reader
temporarily allows himself or herself to believe almost unbelievable story. It is a poem about
sin, punishment, penance and salvation. And it is the reason so that a reader would give up his
or her judgment on the topic and grant the story as true. The Mariner in the poem is telling his
tale to a “Wedding Guest” who has no choice but to listen and to believe. The “Wedding Guest”
in the poem represents “everyman” in the sense that “everyone” is to be at the marriage of the
Mariner to life.

That is, the reader is to follow, live, and participate with the idea of the poem. The mariner is
supposedly responsible for the death of the crew as he brought curse by killing the albatross, ‘a
Christian soul’ that “made the breeze to blow”. It is rationally quite unconvincing that a mere
bird can bring wind. But later in the poem, the wind drops down and the ship stands still “As
idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean”, suggesting that the albatross was the reason why
the wind sided with the ship.

Several times during his story the mariner talks about some elements that are considered
impossible -‘the death- res’, the skeleton of a ship (gloss), ‘The Nightmare Life-In-Death’, the
‘polar spirits’, the ‘angelic spirits’- or supernatural in day to day life. But the way in which
Coleridge used these entities makes them much more than that. The killing of a bird in physical
world brings no great signi cance in human life. But in this poem Coleridge made it matter of
utmost importance in the lives of the crew of the ship.
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The mariner has violated the sanctity of nature through killing the bird, and the rest of the crew
for all?
accomplices by supporting his cause. As a result the nature begins to punish them all. The wind
drops for as it is said earlier; furthermore they are haunted by a spirit who “loved the bird who
loved the man” follows them from “the land of mist and snow”, the home of the albatross, to
avenge its death. “Water, water, everywhere, / And all the boards did shrink; /Water, water,
everywhere, / nor any drop to drink” – thus the avenge began. The crew begins to die as soon
as a horri c ship approaches “without a breeze, ithout a tide. ” The mariner calls it “The
Nightmare Life-In-Death. ” They all die leaving the mariner with the ‘slimy things’ crawling
under the sea to make his penance. The loneliness makes his life worse than the dead ones,
“Alone, alone, all, all alone, / Alone on a wide wide sea. ” Then one night he sees few water
snakes and praises their beauty, and ‘the selfsame moment’ he can pray, and the albatross falls
from his neck. Then come two Polar Spirits who demand further penance of the mariner. They
are then compelled to help him by the Angelic Spirits to carry on the journey.

They make the dead crew row the ship. And when the ship reaches the shore, the Angelic
Spirits take them to the next world, and the penance of the mariner comes to ful llment. “He
prayeth well, who loveth well/ Both man and bird and beast. / He prayeth best, who loveth
best/ All the things both great and small; / For the dear God who loveth us, / He made and
loveth all”- these closing lines sums up the whole poem. The mariner nishes his tale and
leaves the ‘wedding guest’ a “sadder and a wiser man” The wedding guest learns the
punishment of violating God’s rule and takes teaching from the mistakes of the mariner.

The poem is written in such a way that the reader has to belief it. Coleridge placed the ‘fear of
God’ in the readers mind and, this fear does the work for Coleridge. The consequences of the
killing might not have any logical connection in the real world, but the way Coleridge
represented it makes it very much coherent to the topic. And thus the reader falls in the prey
of the poet. He or she retires from judging its improbability and shuts down his or her
rationality. And that is how Coleridge accomplishes his deft use of “willing suspension in
disbelief. ”

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