Accepting the Impossible

I used to be really involved in theatre, and the phrase “suspension of disbelief” is one that we used often. As actors, it was our goal to create this overall suspension. That meant that we had to convince the audience, and ourselves, that we were who we were pretending to be. Although the audience would know that I was really just “Emily,” I had to persuade them to “suspend” or put on hold that disbelief and allow themselves to really believe that I was Lady Macbeth in a Scottish Castle or a dancing teacup in “Be Our Guest.” We had to be so convincing that even though the audience really knew the truth, they chose not to believe it for awhile. I think this same concept applies for poetry. It is up to the author to become so convincing that, although we know certain things are not possible, we allow ourselves to be consumed in the fantasy and believe it to be real. For example, I don’t rationally believe that angel spirits really came and possessed the bodies of the dead sailors. However, Coleridge describes this so vividly that I can see it in my mind and almost believe it. I think this “suspension” is much easier for our day than it would have been in Coleridge’s. Today we have special effects, we have Star Wars, we have an endless supply of sometimes-half-decent horror films. It’s easy to imagine fantastical happenings because our minds have been trained to accept them since we were small. Back then, however, I would think that it would be much harder for the people to accept these fantastic stories and it was likely much more shocking.
I definitely believe that the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” could be considered gothic. The poem is obviously very romantic in nature. It presents the idea of the sacredness of nature (the shooting of the bird) and has many supernatural occurrences (the entire second half of the poem is an example of this). In addition to the romance, however, I feel that this poem has quite a bit of horror as well. Some of the images presented are disturbing even to me, and I live the time of the Saw Movies! The entire idea of the bodies of the crew being brought to life is very frightening. Coleridge’s description of how they “gave a groan” and didn’t “move their eyes” is just down right creepy! Even his description of the sea is unsettling. He states, “Slimy things did crawl with legs upon the slimy sea.” Just thinking about that gives me goosebumps! If it can give me the heebie jeebies in 2009, I think it definitely qualifies as gothic.