Bring out the use of the supernatural in The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner.
· The very description of the ancient mariner and the look in his eyes, his skinny hands lend the supernatural element to the poem right at the beginning.
· There is more to his "glittering eye" than mere madness, as he is able to compel the Wedding Guest to listen to his story with the fascination of a three-year-old child. Although he is clearly human, the Ancient Mariner seems to have a touch of the otherworldly in him.
· The emergence of the Albatross from the mist, and the sailors revering it as a sign of good luck, as though it were a "Christian soul" sent by God to save them.
· The mariner is hounded by disaster and supernatural forces after killing the albatross
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· His underlying theme is that all things that inhabit the natural world have an inherent value and beauty, and that it is necessary for humanity to recognize and respect these qualities.
· The initial descriptions of the ship and its crew are fairly realistic, but as the ancient mariner undergoes his quest for understanding and redemption, the supernatural world increasingly engulfs him.
· His world becomes nightmarish when contrasted with the realistic world that he has left behind.
· For much of the poem, the mariner is adrift in the middle of the ocean, symbolically cut off from all human companionship. The mariner kills the albatross whose spirit takes its revenge on all the mariners. They face utter drought in spite of water being everywhere. The ship is becalmed- As idle as a painted ship / Upon a painted ocean.
· Sailors’ senses assaulted with huge icy forms, terrifying sounds, and bewildering echoes.
· Supernatural beings appear in the poem as symbolic or allegorical figures, representing the forces of nature, life, death, and retribution.
· The mariner confronts these figures and must ultimately appease them in order to obtain his salvation.