Poet’s Corner: Coleridge–Christabel 19

19 June 2026

(22 May 2015) We welcome all our readers back and wish them all a wonderful day! Also, we remind our reader that our purpose in looking at these classic poems is to show their influence upon our own poetic and novelistic works, and Coleridge has been one of the most influential. Last week, we saw our heroine rise, feeling remorse for her sins–whatever those were! This week, our heroine leads her guest to meet her father, Sir Leoline:

The lovely maid and the lady tall
Are pacing both into the hall,
And pacing on through page and groom,
Enter the Baron’s presence-room.

The Baron rose, and while he prest
His gentle daughter to his breast,
With cheerful wonder in his eyes
The lady Geraldine espies,
And gave such welcome to the same,
As might beseem so bright a dame!

The Baron, Sir Leoline, greets his daughter warmly, hugging her tightly before he is aware that there is another lady in his hall; he responds as he should, giving her warm welcome to his hall, again, as is proper for a host. We notice the ‘pacing,’ repeated twice in the first of these two stanzas, conveying a sense of the inevitable, that neither page nor groom will stop or deflect them, that their whole purpose is to enter the Baron’s presence at once. However, it seems through this repetition, the poet conveys a stronger sense of purpose, as if the two ladies have some important mission that will not wait for anything or anyone. We further note the Baron’s ‘cheerful wonder in his eyes,’ and we can first attribute this wonder to seeing his daughter, likely another reminder of the spouse–her mother–he has lost. But then, by juxtaposing both daughter and guest, that ‘cheerful wonder’ is transferred from Christabel to Geraldine, and we can only assume, from what we saw earlier, that Geraldine’s appearance is phenomenal, almost as if an angel has descended from the heavens to grace his hall. The irony is that we know, or at least suspect, that Geraldine is not what she seems to be: not an angel from heaven, but a demon from Hell, her nefarious purposes in this hall are yet to be revealed! Come back next week for more of this strange, supernatural poem of Coleridge. Good reading!