Christabel

“Christabel” is a long narrative poem in the Gothic Romantic tradition comprising 64 stanzas and divided into two parts.

Part I

The first two stanzas establish the poem’s mood: Part I takes place on a cold, cloudless night. Coleridge repeats the words “chill” or “chilly” several times (Lines 14, 15, 20, 43), emphasizing the gloomy weather that often marks the Gothic genre, which tends towards a tone of fear, dread, and foreboding.

These stanzas feature two motifs that appear throughout the poem: birds and clock-bells. Both are markers of time, a theme that preoccupies the poem. The nocturnal owl is a creature of secrets and darkness; later, “owls have awakened the crowing cock” (Line 2), connecting birds with the natural passage of time. However, human time in the poem is also marked by the tolling of church bells. This clock “maketh answer to the clock, / Four for the quarters, and twelve for the hour” (Lines 9-10). A different way to measure time also occurs: The poem takes place “a month before the month of May” (Line 21). During this April, in Leoline’s castle, later called Langdale Hall, spring is slowly creeping in—an in-between season known for changeable and unpredictable weather.