Poet’s Corner: Coleridge–Christabel 10

29 May 2026

(20 March 2015) Last time we saw our heroine, Christabel, and her ‘rescue,’ Geraldine, getting ready for bed, with the latter stating that she could not go to sleep without praying, so she does (but we must wonder to whom this strange lady prays!). Christabel responds:

Quoth Christabel, So let it be!
And as the lady bade, did she.
Her gentle limbs did she undress,
And lay down in her loveliness.

So they both pray, undress, and lay down to sleep, but Christabel, for some reason, cannot sleep:

But through her brain of weal and woe
So many thoughts moved to and fro,
That vain it were her lids to close;
So half-way from the bed she rose,
And on her elbow did recline
To look at the lady Geraldine.

So many thoughts keeping her awake, and what, we must ask, are these thoughts? We get a hint when she leans up and looks at Geraldine. Again, we have to ask, why? What is it about this strange lady that so unsettles our heroine? What is it that attracts Christabel to Geraldine? The next stanza gives us a hint, but what a hint!

Beneath the lamp the lady bowed,
And slowly rolled her eyes around;
Then drawing in her breath aloud,
Like one that shuddered, she unbound
The cincture from beneath her breast:
Her silken robe, and inner vest,
Dropt to her feet, and full in view,
Behold! her bosom and half her side—
A sight to dream of, not to tell!
O shield her! shield sweet Christabel!

We should have sultry music playing, a raunchy saxophone, with a throbbing, steady drumbeat! For that describes what just happened: Geraldine undresses, making sure that she is under the light, and in full view of Christabel, and the poet adds that this vision of loveliness is one from our dreams, one not shared openly because of its nature. Most readers, at this point, stop and expostulate, what the heck just happened!?! Recalling that this is the 19th-century, what Coleridge is suggesting was beyond forbidden, and would have gotten him dragged into the street and stoned! Today, we just shrug our shoulders, wink, and grin. However, the fact that it was forbidden territory supports our early suggestion that Geraldine is more than she seems, likely some kind of supernatural type character (a witch?) who is here to destroy our heroine. This sense is reinforced by the final line, asking someone–most likely the spirits earlier banished (including Christabel’s dead mother)–to come and save our imperiled heroine. Come back again Monday to learn more; until then, good reading!