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Literary narratives ballads grew in the Romantic movement from the later 18th century among social elites and intellectuals. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge produced a collection of Lyrical Ballads in 1798 that included Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

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How would you end this poem based on the title and other images/symbols? Use evidence to back up your claim.

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Using the following websites, write down some of the most important traits of Romantic poetry. Then, go back to Christabel, and locate evidence from the poem showing how this is an example of Romanticism.

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In spite of difference of soil and climate, of language and manners, of laws and customs, in spite of things silently gone out of mind and things violently destroyed, the Poet binds together by passion and knowledge the vast empire of human society, as it is spread over the whole earth, and over all time. The objects of the Poet's thoughts are everywhere; though the eyes and senses of man are, it is true, his favorite guides, yet he will follow wheresoever he can find an atmosphere of sensation in which to move his wings. Poetry is the first and last of all knowledge-it is as immortal as the heart of man.
-William Wordsworth, "Preface to Lyrical Ballads"

Romanticism was arguably the largest artistic movement of the late 1700s. Its influence was felt across continents and through every artistic discipline into the mid-nineteenth century, and many of its values and beliefs can still be seen in contemporary poetry.

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact start of the Romantic movement, as its beginnings can be traced to many events of the time: a surge of interest in folklore in the early to mid-nineteenth century with the work of the brothers Grimm, reactions against Neoclassicism and the Augustan poets in England, and political events and uprisings that fostered nationalistic pride.

Romantic poets cultivated individualism, reverence for the natural world, idealism, physical and emotional passion, and an interest in the mystic and supernatural. Romantics set themselves in opposition to the order and rationality of classical and neoclassical artistic precepts to embrace freedom and revolution in their art and politics. German Romantic poets included Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and British poets, such as Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley, George Gordon Lord Byron, and John Keats propelled the English Romantic movement. Victor Hugo was a noted French Romantic poet as well, and Romanticism crossed the Atlantic through the work of American poets like Walt Whitman and Edgar Allan Poe. The Romantic era produced many of the stereotypes of poets and poetry that exist to this day (i.e., the poet as a tortured and melancholy visionary).

Romantic ideals never died out in poetry, but were largely absorbed into the precepts of many other movements. Traces of romanticism lived on in French S ymbolism and S urrealism and in the work of prominent poets, such as Charles Baudelaire and Rainer Maria Rilke.
browse poets from this movement

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In spite of difference of soil and climate, of language and manners, of laws and customs, in spite of things silently gone out of mind and things violently destroyed, the Poet binds together by passion and knowledge the vast empire of human society, as it is spread over the whole earth, and over all time.

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How is the setting used to create an ominous mood in the first half of Part I? List 5-7 examples.

Specifically what is the significance of it being "middle of the night"?

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Druids Cutting the Mistletoe on the Sixth Day of the Moon ~ Henri Paul Motte

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How does Coleridge incorporate ancient Druid and Christian symbolism of an Oak tree in order to make the symbolism of the tree complex?

How does this complex symbolism add to the ambiguity of both Christabel and Geraldine?

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Look at the pdf discussing the meaning of owls in folklore and mythology. In addition, look up owls and Bohemian Grove. Write down a list of the symbolism of the owl.

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In the context of Christabel, what do you think the owl tells the reader about Geraldine and the situation Christabel is about to encounter? Use evidence from the poem.

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Using evidence from stanza 9, analyze how the men and their horses are important symbols that reveal the character of Geraldine to the reader.

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Look through the first half of Part I. What symbols, images, and/or detail do you see that help the reader characterize Geraldine as a vampire of sorts? Find at least three examples.

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Christabel is an ambiguous (has more than one interpretation, not clear) character. Is she still "innocent" at the end of this poem? Was she solely a victim? Is there evidence to show her willingness to succumb to Geraldine? Find me four pieces of evidence showing the ambiguity of Christabel's character relating to these questions. Analyze how the evidence you chose shows the ambiguity of her character.

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Geraldine is an ambiguous character. We have found a lot of evidence showing that she is vampiric and evil, but now I want you to find me an example that shows she might not be all evil. Use evidence from the text and analyze how this evidence shows the ambiguity of her character.

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Find at least two pieces of evidence from the poem relating to the story of the Garden of Eden. Analyze their meaning in relation to Geraldine's character.

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The Owls serve as a warning sign for Christabel and the danger she is in. Before Christabel encounters Geraldine, Owls are noted to be perched nearby; "And the owls have awakened the crowing cock". Just the mere presence of owls signifies Christabel should turn back, yet she continues on her journey into the woods that has been signaled by the owls as impending danger

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Based off the title alone, it is evident that the poem focuses on Christabel and her journey throughout the story, so it is important to keep her character in the ending. I believe the ending should consist of Geraldine taking temporary control over the King Leoline as he falls under he spell, but Christabel steps up as she comes out of the spell and uses the will of her mother's spirit to fight for her father and cast Geraldine out of the castle. Christabel might even kill her by driving a spear through Geraldine, making it ironic because Geraldine's name means "spear holder". This seems logical because right before the poem abruptly ended, Christabel is described as begging her father to choose her, but instead her decides she is no longer valuable to him and urges Geraldine to continue as he is cast under her spell. It seems as though it will take the power of a strong force of love to break the spell between Christabel and her father because Geraldine embodies everything evil and opposite.

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The first quote that I found in the poem that resembles the story of the Garden of Eden is:"A little door she opened straight, All in the middle of the gate;". In the bible, a garden is a sacred space where god can be closer with his followers and communicate with them. When Christabel finds Geraldine, she is very adamant about Christabel taking her back to the castle so she can "rest" which symbolizes her need to leave the oak tree or "garden" as she represents a form of evil that is not welcome in the garden of God.

A second quote relating to the Garden of Eden is "A snake's small eye blinks dull and shy; And the lady's eyes they shrunk in her head, Each shrunk up to a serpent's eye, And with somewhat of malice, and more of dread,". Snakes represent the devil, and it was a serpent that convinced Eve to eat the apple and further be cast out of the garden, similar as Geraldine is doing with Chirstabel under her spell when she convinces the King to overlook his daughter.

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In the bible there are the four original horsemen that represent conquest, war, famine, and death, while the fifth one represents the returning of the Kings a lords unlike the first four that represent false gospel and lies. This correlates to Geraldine's character because she brings false hope to Christabel and her father as she spreads the lies of faith to them to cast them under her spell. In the poem Geraldine even says to Christabel "'All they who live in the upper sky, Do love you, holy Christabel! And you love them, and for their sake; And for the good which me befel". Here she is deceiving Christabel with her Christian religion to persuade her into committing a sin alongside her.

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In the poem there are some pieces of evidence that contradict Geraldine's evil character such as the lines "That holds the maiden in her arms, Seems to slumber still and mild, As a mother with her child.". This quote shows how even after Geraldine takes Christabel's innocence, she still cares for her and comforts her as if she were her own child. This shows Geraldine's care for Christabel and not necessarily her kindness, because what she did was in no way kind, but almost pity or sympathy of the child who lost her mother.

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Throughout the entire poem, there are many examples of imagery and detail that characterize Geraldine as a prominent vampire. Right when Christabel first sees Geraldine, she describes her as "Her stately neck, and arms were bare; Her blue-veined feet unsandl'd were, And wildly glittered here and there". This description hints at Geraldine's unearthly or immortal appearance as she is slender, with blue toned skin and almost glowing features which allude to her being a vampire. Another piece of evidence of Geraldine's vampire persona is when her and Christabel reached the gate into the castle "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.". This event again characterizes her vampire like behavior as it is known that vampires are not allowed to step foot into an establishment unless they are welcomed in, which is why Christabel had to carry Geraldine through the gate. Lastly, after Geraldine took Christabel's innocence, the next morning she seemed "Nay, fairer yet! and yet more fair!

For she belike hath drunken deep; Of all the blessedness of sleep!". Since Geraldine only seemed to gain youth after sleeping with Christabel, just like a vampire does after feasting on someone's blood, once again showing her vampire characteristics.

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The mascot of the Bohemian Grove has been the owl since 1967, which is located at the Owls Nest Camp, so lots of owl symbols. At the site, there is also a 30 foot hollow owl statue that stands at the head of the lake there.

Owls symbolize wisdom, intuition and protection, hence Bohemian groves only being a place for higher up men who had power

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The purpose of highlighting the time of the night with stating "the middle of the night" or "midnight" is to first identify the fact that even though Christabel is supposed to be an innocent daddy's girl, she is out late in the forest, and to second portray the idea that bad things happen at midnight. Right away, the poem begins with the line "Tis the middle of night" to immediately set the gothic setting, and following with "Is the night chilly and dark? The night is chilly, but not dark. The thin gray cloud is spread on high, It covers but not hides the sky. The moon is behind, and at the full; And yet she looks both small and dull.

The night is chill, the cloud is gray" which sets the scene and gives a detailed description of what the night looks like, very eerie. To hint at Christabel's sinful behavior being out at that time of night, the poem reads "And she in the midnight wood will pray" which shows that she is in fact out at midnight in the middle of the woods.

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In the poem, Christabel first prays by an oak tree where there is miseltoe, and when she first runs into Geraldine, miseltoe is also mentioned. Miseltoe is often used to symbolize romance, so this can be foreshadowing to the relationship Geraldine and Christabel will develop that night. The miseltoe resembles the spirit of the oak tree while the leaves die in the winter to be born again in the spring. Which symbolizes rebirth, which Christabel experiences when Geraldine takes her innocence.