Poet’s Corner: Coleridge–Christabel 12

3 June 2026

(3 April 2015) We return to Coleridge’s unfinished poem, having finished the first part with the two ladies in bed, Geraldine casting some spell on Christabel that fills both with remorse, but what this “spell” is, no one really knows, although many have tried. This week, we will begin with the conclusion to this first part, which begins with a short review of what has happened:

THE CONCLUSION TO PART I
It was a lovely sight to see
The lady Christabel, when she
Was praying at the old oak tree.
Amid the jaggèd shadows
Of mossy leafless boughs,
Kneeling in the moonlight,
To make her gentle vows;
Her slender palms together prest,
Heaving sometimes on her breast;
Her face resigned to bliss or bale—
Her face, oh call it fair not pale,
And both blue eyes more bright than clear,
Each about to have a tear.

A recap of the beginning of the poem, painting a swift picture of things before Geraldine appears and messes everything up, and the poet skips all that happens after Geraldine appears, turning his attention to the present moment (in the narrative):

With open eyes (ah woe is me!)
Asleep, and dreaming fearfully,
Fearfully dreaming, yet, I wis,
Dreaming that alone, which is—
O sorrow and shame! Can this be she,
The lady, who knelt at the old oak tree?
And lo! the worker of these harms,
That holds the maiden in her arms,
Seems to slumber still and mild,
As a mother with her child.

The poet inserts his editorial comment here, or perhaps his judgment, calling our attention to the fact that the sweet, virtuous girl praying under the tree, is now sleeping fitfully, her sleep disrupted by her sorrow and shame over what has happened, which is still undefined. There are some who argue that these two women represent the old, medieval view of women: that all women could be divided into two types, the virgin Mary, who would never stoop to physical relations, and mother Eve, who was seen as a fallen temptress. Others claim this moment is one of initiation–the mother/child figure–in which the experienced woman introduces the innocent girl into womanhood, a rite of passage, so to speak. While these two views lead to some interesting conclusions, I think the storyteller had no thought whatsoever for these issues, since they don’t actually appear until the 20th-century, long after Coleridge’s time, and long before even the first glimmering of a women’s movement. As Coleridge elsewhere explains, his interest is in the supernatural, and as such, the most likely explanation is that of a witch casting a spell on the maiden for nefarious purposes yet to be revealed. More next time, but in the meantime, good reading!