Poet’s Corner: Coleridge–Christabel 6

18 May 2026

(13 February 2015) We return with more of Coleridge’s strange, unfinished poem, “Christabel,” reminding our readers that last week Christabel responded to Geraldine’s plea for help as any good person would, offering her a place to stay, help to return home, and a chaste invitation to share her bed. This week, we see the two ladies returning to Christabel’s castle, but something strange happens as they enter and cross the threshold:

They crossed the moat, and Christabel
Took the key that fitted well;
A little door she opened straight,
All in the middle of the gate;
The gate that was ironed within and without,
Where an army in battle array had marched out.
The lady sank, belike through pain,
And Christabel with might and main
Lifted her up, a weary weight,
Over the threshold of the gate:
Then the lady rose again,
And moved, as she were not in pain.

So free from danger, free from fear,
They crossed the court: right glad they were.
And Christabel devoutly cried
To the lady by her side,
Praise we the Virgin all divine
Who hath rescued thee from thy distress!
Alas, alas! said Geraldine,
I cannot speak for weariness.
So free from danger, free from fear,
They crossed the court: right glad they were.

Geraldine nearly passes out over the threshold, which the narrator attributes to her pain; however, all in Coleridge’s day would have recognized the reason why this happened: supernatural creatures cannot pass through doors that have been blessed, not without the help of someone who can cross, in this case, Christabel. The original audience would have recognized this sign, knowing that something evil has been allowed to enter the castle. A further hint is found in the description of the door, bound within and without in iron, a metal particularly effective against supernatural, evil characters. The Romantics were very interested in what is called “liminal spaces,” like the door threshold, or sunrise and sunset, the border between night and day which is neither night nor day, but something in between. To further reinforce this notion, the next stanza tells us of the family dog, commented on in the beginning:

Outside her kennel, the mastiff old
Lay fast asleep, in moonshine cold.
The mastiff old did not awake,
Yet she an angry moan did make!
And what can ail the mastiff bitch?
Never till now she uttered yell
Beneath the eye of Christabel.
Perhaps it is the owlet’s scritch:
For what can ail the mastiff bitch?

The dog, without waking (which is significant–it should wake and greet Christabel, so why doesn’t it?), lets out ‘an angry moan,’ an unusual occurrence that the poet tries to attribute to the ‘scritch’ [scratch] of the night owl. However, when added to the weakness of Geraldine crossing the threshold, we know something wicked has penetrated the castle defenses. Come back Wednesday and we will see what happens as the two ladies pass through the castle and reach Christabel’s room! Good reading!