Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", in which the reader (along with the targeted Wedding Guest of the poem) must accept the Ancient Mariner's tale at face value and assume the old man is telling the truth about his experiences. Coleridge builds this "willing suspension of disbelief" by beginning the Mariner's tale in familiar territory--a ship exploring the frozen wastes of the ocean--and slowly but inexorably drawing the reader into the Mariner's more supernatural encounters.