Christabel

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1816

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Related Poems

“Kubla Khan” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1816)

This poem was published alongside “Christabel,” and is one of Coleridge’s most famous works. It is known for being fueled by a vision Coleridge had while under the influence of opium. As the recollection of a vision, it is more lyrical than the long narrative of “Christabel.” The two poems share some elements, such as the moon, the supernatural, and considerations of good and evil.

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1834)

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is usually considered Coleridge’s most famous poem. It is a more polished narrative work than “Christabel,” and is considered a defining work of the English Romantic Era. This poem created the association between the phrase “the Albatross / About my neck was hung” and carrying a heavy burden.

“Songs of Innocence and Experience” by William Blake (1789)

This illuminated manuscript gives literary context to the duality of innocence and experience found in Coleridge’s work. Animal symbolism appears in both works. Blake explores a fallen, post-Edenic world, which Coleridge also alludes to by Geraldine’s snake eyes and Bracy’s dream about the snake in “Christabel.”

Further Literary Resources

Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1817)

This prose piece is a mixture of autobiography, philosophical treatise, religious rumination, literary criticism, and poetic theory. Biographia Literaria contains a famous theory of creativity about the imagination. It also coined the phrase “suspension of disbelief,” which is useful for reading the supernatural elements in “Christabel.”

Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1872)

This vampire novel, which inspired Bram Stoker’s Dracula, contains many of the same Gothic elements as “Christabel.” Both works contain distinctly female supernatural creatures, and scholars have compared Carmilla and Geraldine, often describing the latter as a vampire and contrasting the lesbian relationships in both stories (Nethercot, Arthur H. “Coleridge’s ‘Christabel’ and Lefanu’s ‘Carmilla.’” Modern Philology 47, no. 1 (1949): 32–38.).

Possession by A. S. Byatt (1991)

This novel about a hidden love affair between two Victorian poets based on Robert Browning and Christina Rossetti has allusions to “Christabel.” (Kilbride, Laura. “Byatt: Victorian Poets in Possession.” Cambridge Authors.)

Christabel by Julia Margaret Cameron (1866)

This is an early art photograph of model May Prinsep portraying Coleridge’s character. Cameron uses a soft focus and long exposure time in this photograph.