Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Christabel

Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Ed. by Daniel Robinson, Widener University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1816

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Fantastic / Grotesque
Gothic & Ghosts
Poetry (any)

Resources

Denounced upon its publication as obscene and incomprehensible, Coleridge’s unfinished poem “Christabel” today ranks among the most admired of his poems and stands as an important precursor to later poems of the erotic macabre by such writers as Poe, Christina Rossetti, and Baudelaire. Coleridge began writing “Christabel” around the same time as he wrote “The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere”, which first appeared in the 1798 Lyrical Ballads. Also dating from this period is “Kubla Khan”, which first appeared in print with “Christabel” in 1816, nearly twenty years after their inception, along with Coleridge’s nightmarish poetic record of his opium addiction, “The Pains of Sleep”, which dates from 1803. …

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6391 words

Citation: Robinson, Daniel. "Christabel". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 03 October 2011 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6058, accessed 24 April 2024.]

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