Treatment of Supernatural in Coleridge's Christabel
Christabel is an unfinished poem of 677 lines written by S.T. Coleridge. Its first part consists of 337 lines, which was written in 1797 and its second part consists of 337 lines which were written in 1800, after Coleridge returned back from Germany. After this there was a decline in his poetic powers and in spite of his numerous efforts to complete the poem, he could not do so. This poem was supposed to be included in the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads, but because it was not complete its inclusion could not be possible. On 1st November 1800, Coleridge wrote a letter to Josiah Wedgwood in this context. In his letter, he wrote-
“I tried to perform my promise; but the deep unutterable disgust,
Which I had suffered in the translation of that accursed
Wallenstein seemed to have stricken me with bareness- for I tried and tried and nothing would come of it. I desisted with a deeper dejection than I am willing to remember”. Wordsworth decided not to include Kubla Khan in the Lyrical Ballads because he thought that the style of this poem was very different as compared with his style of writing and so he did not allowed the printing of this poem along with his other poems in Lyrical Ballads, though Coleridge himself thought that it was not included because of its inappropriate length. It was read and admired both by Walter Scott and Lord Byron and it was finally published by Murray in 1816 on the recommendation of Lord Byron.
In his preface to Christabel, Coleridge writes ‘‘in my very first conception of the tale, I had the whole present in my mind, with the wholeness, so less than the liveliness of a vision”. In 1815, in a letter to Lord Byron, he wrote that the poem will be written in five parts. All this shows that Coleridge had a definite plan about the narrative scheme of the poem .However, Wordsworth was doubtful about the presence of definite plan in Coleridge’s mind to write this poem. Wordsworth says that-“I am sure he never formed a plan or knew what
“I tried to perform my promise; but the deep unutterable disgust,
Which I had suffered in the translation of that accursed
Wallenstein seemed to have stricken me with bareness- for I tried and tried and nothing would come of it. I desisted with a deeper dejection than I am willing to remember”. Wordsworth decided not to include Kubla Khan in the Lyrical Ballads because he thought that the style of this poem was very different as compared with his style of writing and so he did not allowed the printing of this poem along with his other poems in Lyrical Ballads, though Coleridge himself thought that it was not included because of its inappropriate length. It was read and admired both by Walter Scott and Lord Byron and it was finally published by Murray in 1816 on the recommendation of Lord Byron.
In his preface to Christabel, Coleridge writes ‘‘in my very first conception of the tale, I had the whole present in my mind, with the wholeness, so less than the liveliness of a vision”. In 1815, in a letter to Lord Byron, he wrote that the poem will be written in five parts. All this shows that Coleridge had a definite plan about the narrative scheme of the poem .However, Wordsworth was doubtful about the presence of definite plan in Coleridge’s mind to write this poem. Wordsworth says that-“I am sure he never formed a plan or knew what