| Title | : | Christabel |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | - |
| Format Type | : | Kindle , Hardcover , Paperback , Audiobook & More |
| Number of Pages | : | 20 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 1816 |
The story of Christabel concerns a central female character of the same name and her encounter with a stranger called Geraldine, who claims to have been abducted from her home by a band of rough men. Christabel pities her and takes her home with her; supernatural signs seem to indicate that not all is well.
Christabel Reviews
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For what there was of this, it was actually quite nice. I like old, rhyming poetry it seems. He has a good sense of meter and rhythm, and the story is just starting to get interesting and exciting when it gets abruptly cut off. I was kind of digging it, and if there was more I suspect we would have gotten on quite while. Alas, that was all there was to this!
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As I read The Gabriel Hounds last week, I saw quotes from this poem at the beginnings of various chapters. And the heroine of that book was named Christabel, so of course i became curious about this poem.
I've read Coleridge's Rime Of The Ancient Mariner many years ago, but I hadn't managed anything else of his until this unfinished poem. The poet planned for five parts, but only two were completed.
Why? What happened to keep Coleridge from completing this work? That became my point of wonder while I read this spooky poem of Christabel being taken over body and soul by the wicked Geraldine, who is obviously up to no good not only towards Christabel but against her father as well.
So, why didn't Coleridge finish? This liner note from the preface of the edition I read at Gutenberg helps explain:
"Since the latter date, my poetic powers have been, till very lately, in a state of suspended animation. But as, in my very first conception of the tale, I had the whole present to my mind, with the wholeness, no less than the liveliness of a vision; I trust that I shall be able to embody in verse the three parts yet to come, in the course of the present year."
The latter date he mentions is 1800, which was when the second and final section of the poem was finished; but he never could get himself together to add more parts to this piece.At first I thought maybe he died before he could do that, but when I went to wiki for more information I learned of Coleridge's poor physical health, possible bipolar condition, and addiction to opium.
I think it is a wonder he was able to write even as much of this poem as he did! Why is it that so many creative people had (and have) such severe issues? Such a shame, isn't it. -
okay so bbc merlin but make it slightly sapphic and very evil
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Donde Christabel encuentra en el bosque después de medianoche a una extraña mujer, y no encuentra nada mejor que invitarla a su lecho.
And Christabel awoke and spied
The same who lay down by her side—
O rather say, the same whom she
Raised up beneath the old oak tree!
Nay, fairer yet! and yet more fair!
For she belike hath drunken deep
Of all the blessedness of sleep!
Con conatos de vampirismo lésbico o meramente de un espiritu maléfico y donde se entrecruzan elementos de cuento de hada y cuento admonitorio buscando redimir la virtud , el final es especulativo porque el Sr. Coleridge nunca llegó a concluirlo. Hay menciones de espiritus en pena, de traspaso de un umbral de hierro (¿contra las hadas?) aunque puede concluirse como eso de que los vampiros no pueden entrar solos a un hogar. Un amor perdido, y una mujer/espiritu/demonio seductor. Cosas compelidas a no decirse y ojos de serpiente.
Interesante.
Y anterior a
Carmilla pues fue escrito en 1797.
(Me recuerda un poco a lo que hace Gaiman en Nieve, cristal y manzanas.) -
I think this is so good. I love the evil vs good/ sexuality vs purity themes. It is really a great work. It is such a pity that it isn't finished. I really want to know how Samuel Taylor Coleridge would have ended it.
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lesbian vampires
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3.75? literally every character in this was gay. go coleridge!
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Because Christabel is unfinished, and especially because there were supposed to be at least three more parts, reading it feels like getting sucked into a story only to find out that all the pages after the prologue and the first chapter are missing. We never know what happens to Christabel and who or what Geraldine really is, but leaving the poem unrated just because the story ends abruptly would be a bit unfair. I mean, something can still be said about the language, the atmosphere etc.
I absolutely adore
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798), but although Christabel is a more conventional horror/gothic poem with a linear narrative, it doesn't mean it's bad. Just that it's entertaining but not particularly remarkable. The second part is much less interesting as it's a sort of an interlude that leads to the following events (whatever they may be), whereas the strongly gothic first part is remarkably similar to Carmilla (1872) with its heaving bosoms, supernatural elements, and two ladies having a very close encounter.
Although I picked Christabel up because I've heard about Geraldine in the context of vampires, I hesitate to call it a full-blown vampire story. That's just because the poem is unfinished, so we can't really be 100 percent sure about what's going on despite the relatively strong hints. Who knows what surprises Coleridge had in store (and I hear he had too much of them, because he couldn't decide how to end the story). -
(I reread this and changed my review from a 4 to a 5.)
My analysis of the poem, if you've already read it and are curious: -
I read this because I got offered a book (Christabel by Suzanne Sullivan) that's based on this poem. I liked it very much so I can't wait to see how the book is going to turn out!
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saucy gothic
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creepy
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Hat beim lesen zwar mein lispeln richtig getriggered aber sonst very nice
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Preferred this to 'Rime of the Ancient Mariner'! Was not expecting it to be as spooky as it is.
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when i read this, at first in 2014, it was like being stunned by the sheer awesomeness of coleridge's poems and the darkness inside the poem's narrative. fuck! i can still remember what kind of an evil book it was! goodness!
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Enjoyable poem about possible otherwordly terrors. I would have rated it higher except that it was never finished, and that just makes me a sadpanda because it was just getting really interesting.
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coleridge was literally writing about sexy gay vampires before le fanu and stoker were even born... his power.
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A long unfinished poem by Coleridge that some argue to be an inspiration for Le Fanu's Carmilla, which I have just read. And yes, there is that shared central relationship between girls, both mirroring each other, and the fascination between them resting on Geraldine's monstrous nature just as it does with Carmilla's. What is also reminds me of, though, is Stoker's The Lair of the White Worm, because Geraldine is presented with a very serpentine imagery. If she's not a snake in a woman's skin I'd be frankly astonished, but then Coleridge only completed the first two sections of a planned five, as I understand it, and it's not like he's coming back to finish it off. Given that, I'm sticking with snake, and my guess is that Christabel's dopey enamoured dad was going to get bitten and come to a nasty, venomous end.
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One of my favourite Romantics. This poem was genius; it was such a shame that it was left unfinished.
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geraldine, queer vampire icon
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It's the abrupt ending that ruins this. It's almost like a story prompt. Coleridge sets up the lore for you and you get to decide the rest.
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This was kind of IT as long as school reading goes like ??????
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One of Coleridge’s donations to romanticism is the overture and use of medieval elements in poetry. Convinced as he is that distance lends charm to the view he takes the setting and circumstances away from the present and places them in the Middle Ages in order that the ordinary and the usual become glamorous and highly appealing, in ‘Christabel’ Coleridge uses medieval elements in such a subtle and exquisitemanner that they succeed in leaving a deep impression on our mind.
In this poem the setting is definitely medieval in appearance. In the midst of the wood is situated a castle where the chief events of the poem take place. It is surrounded by a deep defensive ‘moat’ beyond which stands a big gate ironed within and without’, so wide that an army in battle array could march easily out of it. The gate again, has a small door fixed in its middle. Beyond the gate there lies a court most probably for the holding of tournaments. The actual castle consists of a hail with a fire-place and a clock to announce hours the Baron’s room.
The poem presents a medieval atmosphere characterized by loneliness eerieness and mystery on the one hand and incantation (words used in magic) use of spell and supernaturalism on the other.
The action of poem begins at midnight. The night is chilly but not dark. The moon is at the full phase but mysteriously looks ‘both small and dull’. The thin grey cloud ‘covers but not hides the sky’. The owl screeches and surprisingly the cock also drowsily crows. Hearing the sound of the clock the ‘toothless mastiff bitch’ gives ‘sixteen short howls not over loud’ in the wood the trees have become bare. There is a huge old oak tree without a trace of green on it.
What is mysterious is that the tree is left with only one red leaf that amazingly turns round and round although there is no wind to make it do so. The loneliness of the place is deepened by a solitary woman found kneeling underneath the oak.
The atmosphere becomes charged with eeriness when all of a sudden and apparently without any cause a moaning sound comes from the other side of the oak. Geraldine’s sinking on the floor for a number of times apparently without sufficient cause is also mysterious and amazing.
Spell is made use of when Geraldine by touching Christabel’s naked body with her bare bosom activates this special power on her as a result of which her spell becomes the controller of her voice and makes her unable to forget the horrible ‘sight’ whose witness she has unwillingly become. Her use of incantation is found when she tries and is able to drive away the invisible spirit by repeatedly crying ‘with (a) hollow voice’: ‘Off, woman, off! This hour is mine.’
In this milieu we may also bring to mind her curse to the spirit: ‘Off, wandering mother! peak and pine!’
Supernaturalism is found in a number of cases such as the mastiff’s making of an ‘angry’ yell while she lies ‘fast asleep’, the dying brands’, sudden production of ‘a tongue of light’ and ‘a fit of flame’ as Geraldine goes past them, the appearance of the ghost of Christabel’s mother as soon as she wishes for her presence. her strenuous fight with the mother resulting in the wiping of ‘her moist cold broty’, the revelation of the exceedingly beautiful woman’s bosom disfigured with mark of shame and seal of sorrow and Christabel’s lying asleep with ‘open eyes’ and ‘dreaming fearfully’ in a trance induced by Geraldine’s spell.
These supernatural elements without a doubt go well with the superstitious thoughts and beliefs of the medieval times.
In the poem we also observe the presence of characters that are medieval to the bone. Of them we want to mention, first, the owner of the castle, Sir Leoline, ‘the Baron rich’ and ‘of a noble line’. There is a reference to the Lady of the castle who died while giving birth to her child, a common medical problem of the medieval age.
Then there is Christabel who, in the absence of her mother, comes forward to play in the role of a true hostess by assuring shelter to Geraldine. She is betrothed to a knight who has gone far in search of adventure. Her hostess-like courtesy is revealed when she requests her guest to allow herself to sleep for the night only on ‘her’ coach which is actually hers.
Christabel assures Geraldine that her father will gladly send their ‘stout chivalry’ together with friends who would ‘guide and guard’ a forlorn lady like her safe to her ‘noble father’s hall’. There is also a reference to the friar, a familiar figure of the age, before whom Christabel’s mother while on death-bed, expressed her wish to be present when the castle-bell would strike twelve on her daughter’s wedding-day.
The principles, practices and conventions, peculiar to the medieval times are also present in the poem. The belief in witches and ghosts was real for which we find in the poem the presence of a witch like Geraldine and a ghost like Christabel’s mother.
The superstitious belief that dogs can smell the presence of a ghost is made use of in the old mastiff’s seeing of ‘mv lady’s shroud’.
Another superstitious belief that ‘evil spirits may not enter a house without help from a mortal’ is utilized in the case of Geraldine’s access in to the castle made possible through Christabel’s cooperation.
Another such belief is expressed in the line ‘Her gracious stars the lady blest’ which alludes to a supposedly lucky or unlucky planet or a sign of the zodiac regarded as permanently influencing or deciding the fate of a person born under it.
We may further point out a belief of the age, superstitious no doubt which states that wicked spirits become most active after midnight and they can even drive out guardian angels during the hour ‘allotted to them.
The poet has also mentioned the religious practices of the time such as crossing oneself or naming Jesu or Maria when faced with danger or seeking protection or after recovery from menace. Another such practice is kneeling and praying for the ‘weal’ (well-being) of the lover (as done by Christabel), and for the recovery of one’s plight (as she does for Geraldine).
There is also the practice of bowing (bending of the head to show deep respect to God) before going to bed (as done by Geraldine).
These religious practices together with the firm faith that ‘saints will aid if men will call’ show the deep piety (piousness) of the age. Among social practices may be mentioned women’s riding on palfrey (saddle-horse) drinking of light wine prepared from wild flowers, wearing of sandals silken robes inner vest and cincture and decking of hair with ‘wildly’ glittering gems.
A trace of medieval architecture can be detected in Christabel’s chamber. Its use in the Gothic style is reflected in the hail that ‘echoes still/Pass as lightly as you will’, in the winding stairs going up ‘now in glimmer and now in gloom’ and in Christabel’s chamber carved ‘curiously’ with ‘strange and sweet’ figures—all from the carver’s brain’— So that they may appear appropriate ‘for a lady’s chamber’. The bedroom has been built so wonderfully that ‘not a moonbeam enters here’ vet there is no difficulty in seeing as ‘light from the sky’ can find free entrance here. Besides there is the silver lamp (tied with double silver chains to an angel’s feet) which can swing to and fro.
The poet has used in the poem some archaic words and phrases in order that they may harmonize with its medieval atmosphere.
Of these we may mention nouns like ‘sire’, ‘naught’, ‘yester morning ‘yester night’ adverbs like’ withal’ be like’ verbs like quoth’ ‘espy’ and phrases like ‘ever and eve’, ‘I wis’, ‘Woe is me ’ and ‘Ah, wel-a-day’.
The poem also presents some of the dark sides of the medieval times such as witchery, banditry and harlotry. Geraldine’s cursing of the spirit of Christabel’s mother with words like ‘Off, wandering mother! Peak and pine!’ clearly indicates the former’s skill in witchcraft.
Attack by bandits on harmless travellers was one of the notable crimes of the age. The report that five ruffians seized Geraldine tied her ‘on a palfrey whit and made her ride off ‘furiously’ is indicative of the brigandage prevalent at that time.
Harlotry was a social vice of the age and women of low character were often branded as a punishment for their mean activities. Her beauty gorgeous dress and fondness for ornament tempt us to take Geraldine as a courtesan whose disfigurement of the bosom through branding does not appear too unlike.
The allegory in the poem works under two layers:
a) Christabel and Geraldine are distinct as women on the one hand, and forces representing good and evil on the other. As a representative of evil Geraldine is so powerful that she requires no assistant to fulfil her purpose.
b) At the same time she suffers from two weaknesses : first, her real self is so horrid that she has to appear in the guise of a very attractive and beautiful woman in order to make herself acceptable to others and to secure the cooperation of the good woman to cause her ruin, and secondly, notwithstanding her remarkable power, it is not permanent but lasts only for a short while.
As an agent of evil she also possesses such other qualities as wickedness, deception and sin. As a representative of good, Christabel’s power is so feeble that she needs to be assisted not only by the spirit of her mother who really serves as her guardian angel’ but also by such lower than mortals as the mastiff bitch and inanimate things as the gate the hall the strands and the lamp.
As an agent of good though Christabel is not so attractive as Geraldine yet she possesses such qualities as loveliness, honesty purity, simplicity and innocence. One cardinal characteristic of good is that no matter however it has to suffer, it never loses faith in divine powers.
As a romantic poet Coleridge’s primary concern in writing the poem ‘Christabel’ is that it should be artistically satisfying and mentally pleasing to readers, The poet himself admitted that the poem ‘pretended to be nothing more than a common fairy tale’ and that it was a fantasia of elusive charm and nocturnal mystery’.
There is nothing to dispute what the poet has said above. Yet he treats the various factors of the poem in such a ‘subtle and complicated’ way that it is too difficult to produce its theme in a short, neat and happy manner. However, as a romanticist he could not deny his attraction for ballad poetry along with allegory that frequently goes with it. Therefore, it would not be unnatural for us to expect the traces of both in his marvellous though fraginenta poem ‘Christabel’. In fact it contains certain allegorical features that are hard to deny. -
This was good. I mean this was really good. It was a great blend of horror, medieval, Gothic and the classic.
Part of my required reading list for my zombie/vampire course, Christabel was an intriguing story to read. Written in verse, it took a few stanzas to get used to the style, but it was worth it in the end.
A story filled with eerie descriptions, a spooky atmosphere, a seductress and an outcome I would not have suspected. In my accompanying course notes and commentaries, I read that the version we have now wasn’t even the complete narration and Coleridge meant to finish it, which obviously never happened. I think it is partially because of that unfinished element that makes this story even more spooky.
Overall, if you are able to look past the poetic nature of this narration, you will definitely be in for a treat.
ElliotScribbles -
I interpret "Christabel" as a meta-commentary on the "woman's fall from grace" narrative; the narrator, for example, expresses much doubt about Christabel's vision of Geraldine (her lesbian lover) being evil. I read her reactions, and her becoming snake-like after seeing Geraldine's supposedly snake-like eyes (that no other character nor the narrator sees, by the way) as pious guilt for fuckin' a sexy, slightly masculine-coded lady. Fair, given the circumstances. Luckily, Christabel's father protects Geraldine, both from scandal and the men who left her roaming about the forest after beating her.
The conclusion of part 2 of the poem is about fairy influence and love in general, as an emotion being tethered to hatred; that also explains the lost love in between Christabel's and Geraldine's fathers, which is rendered as harmless because the Baron's lost love is absent, so he cannot be misinterpreted.
Perhaps why Coleridge struggled "finishing" the poem, besides him being off his gourd on drugs anyway. He just rendered a domestic moment caught between two struggling, gay relationships, beautifully and emotionally, without falling prey to the misogynistic and homophobic tropes of the medium. In other words:
Y'all critics don't wanna admit that the Romantic poets were enormously queer.
In this essay I will- -
This lovely hardback edition from Woodstock Books is a photographic reprint of the original 1816 publication of "Christabel," "Kubla Khan" and "The Pains of Sleep" in one volume. Three of Coleridge's finest poems, they lack only "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by constitute virtually all of the Coleridge one really needs.
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For this year's spooky season, I wanted to do a bit of a theme with some of my reviews – I have already been reading a handful of gothic horror novels this year, and wanted to try to read classic vampire literature to get me into the spooky mood. We’re talking VERY classic, like I have purposefully tried to read the absolute origins of the genre. I’m not the biggest fan of modern Vampire stuff, you know sparkly vampires and the like, but I LOVE gothic literature. Today, I wanted to do a book that can be argued as not being a vampire book in any way whatsoever, but as you will see, the building blocks are there for a shocking revelation that never comes. You see, Christabel has the unfortunate classification of being an incomplete work, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge (Rime of the Ancient Mariner) worrying that it was “not perfect” and dropping it entirely. It was later published in this state with no conclusion. As you will soon see, Christabel is likely the inspiration for a later Vampire work called Carmilla, which inspired Bram Stoker to make Dracula and so on.
“Christabel was published by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1816. Coleridge wrote only two parts of the poem. He did not complete it out of concern that the rest might not be as perfect as the beginning. The poem breaks off at a very significant point in the plot. The setting of the poem is a medieval castle owned by Sir Leoline, an old widower and a baron. He has a daughter named Christabel, who is loving, obedient, and pious.”
I’m a big fan of the works of Edgar Allan Poe, and this seems somewhat similar in tone to me. While its written in an ornate manner, the words are not hard to understand, nor pretentious in any way, which is always a plus. It’s a shame that this story is missing the third act, and I wish they would locate any of the attempts the author made to end the story, but it may have all been in his head for all we know.
So, was Christabel’s Geraldine supposed to be a vampire? We absolutely know Geraldine is apparently some kind of monster, but we know not which – perhaps a witch, or ghost, maybe even a lizard woman? The very last section of the story reveals that she is hiding “shrunken serpent eyes”, a fact that correlates to the Gaelic bard’s vision of a serpent in the woods preying on a dove (Christabel). What leads many to accept this as an early vampire tale is the fact that many of the ideas in the story are re-used later on for vampires. First and foremost, we know that she has been feeding on Christabel while she sleeps as seen in the following set of stanzas:
The air is still! through mist and cloud
That merry peal comes ringing loud;
And Geraldine shakes off her dread,
And rises lightly from the bed;
Puts on her silken vestments white,
And tricks her hair in lovely plight,
And nothing doubting of her spell
Awakens the lady Christabel.
‘Sleep you, sweet lady Christabel?
I trust that you have rested well.’
And Christabel awoke and spied
The same who lay down by her side-
O rather say, the same whom she
Raised up beneath the old oak tree!
Nay, fairer yet! and yet more fair!
For she belike hath drunken deep
Of all the blessedness of sleep!
And while she spake, her looks, her air,
Such gentle thankfulness declare,
That (so it seemed) her girded vests
Grew tight beneath her heaving breasts.
‘Sure I have sinned!’ said Christabel,
‘Now heaven be praised if all be well!’
And in low faltering tones, yet sweet,
Did she the lofty lady greet
With such perplexity of mind
As dreams too lively leave behind.
In order to do this she has apparently enchanted her with a spell and preyed on her innocence. This is perhaps the origin of the “lesbian vampire” trope that we see in many bits of vampire lore, most notably Carmilla.
Another of the more important vampiric occurrences in this story is that Geraldine has to be personally invited by the would-be victim into her home. The castle gates are made of iron, and Geraldine seems unable to pass them without blood curdling pain. Christabel, fearing that the girl is dying, picks her up and personally drags her through the gateway. Mysteriously, Geraldine seems to regain her composure once inside. It is in this scene that we also see an aversion to religion as Geraldine claims she is too exhausted to pray when asked to thank The Virgin Mary for her salvation, and ask for protection. She also seems very fearful of an angel statue at various points. Both of these tropes were later used in Le Fanu’s Carmilla and descended from there into lots of other vampire stories.
Even as an unfinished work, this is still a great poem, and has enough closure for you to surmise what has happened or what will happen. You can also see the beginnings of a lot of vampire literature owe a LOT to this story, and especially Carmilla which is basically a re-imagining of it. This is a quick read, and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome, and for that I recommend checking it out. I found a free Kindle edition of this on Amazon, but due to the story’s age you should have no issue whatsoever in finding a copy for free. Unless you get an edition with some sort of Earth-shattering analysis, I would avoid paying any money for it. -
Beautiful... mystical...grasping and GRAND!!
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First part is great. Second part not so good. The first part was spooky and kinda sexy. Kinda lost interest in the second part - wish it had been completed!
