Ex.1.
a. The ballad is set in a wedding feast: an old mariner stops a guest and begins to tell him a story. Firstly the guest tries to get away from the Mariner, but lastly he is hypnotized by his glittering and magnetic eye: the Mariner tells him how once his ship, after entering open sea quietly, met a tempest when it passed the Line. The more the storm pushed the ship to South, the more snow and ice came on the sea; the mariners felt alone until an albatross came to them: it would have followed the ship until the Mariner killed it with his crossbow.
b. There are two storylines: the ballad's one and the Mariner's one.

Ex.2.
1. The Mariner's scarier details are the most described in the ballad: his beard is long and grey, his eye is glittering and brightening, his hand is very skinny.
2. The figure of the Mariner is the stereotype of the old sailor gone mad fro the things he saw in his journey: it doesn't seem a real person, but it is typical of stories and ballads.

Ex.3.
1. Landscapes: an harbour, the sea, the snowy cliffs, the frozen sea, the fog.
2. The storm-blast is described as tyrannous and strong, and it has overtaking wings; it roars and blasts. The snowy cliffs "sends" a dismal sheen; the ice cracks, growls, roars and howls. The good south wind "springs" up behind.
3. I would say Nature is presented in a symbolic way, as all the elements that constitute the setting have a specific function: Nature isn't inanimate, it is alive, and it is like another character in the story.

Ex.4.
1. Firstly the figure of the ancient mariner is fairy: it helps to give to the story a mysterious atmosphere. In addiction the natural elements and the albatross seem to have influenced voluntarily what has happened to the ship.
2. The actions of the other guests of the party described in a pause of the mariner's story bring the attention of the reader back to reality, while in the following line the adventure of the ship opens again the world of supernatural.