Show how Coleridge
evokes the medieval atmosphere in Christabel?
Coleridge’s setting of the poem ‘Christabel’
is definitely Medieval with full of taste of the Middle Ages, which was the
age of Chivalry, of virtuous maidens and glamorous ladies, of fights and
tournaments, of magic and witchcraft, of goblins and vampires etc. The elements
of the poem, distant from our own times, not only lend glamour to the
characters and incidents of the tale but also contribute to supernatural
happenings in the poem. In his employment of medievalism, Coleridge takes us to
the romantic and charmful world of Middle ages from the ordinary world through
the glamour of a distance of time or circumstances, just as Sir Walter
Raleigh’s ‘romance’ throws over us the “magic
of distance”- “If I had to choose a single characteristic of Romance as the
most noteworthy, I think I should choose Distance, and should call Romance the
magic of Distance.” (Sir Walter Raleigh’s romance)
The use of medieval elements are
numerous in ‘Christabel’ in which some of them which are more important are as
follows;-
Medieval chivalry and
baronism:
The medieval chivalry is faithfully
represented in the story of her ‘forlorn’
condition told by Geraldine who was seized by five warriors and left there all
alone.
“Five warriors seized me yestermorn,
Me, even me, a maid forlorn;
They choked my cries with force and fright,
And tied me on a palfrey white.”
Again, by the mention of Sir
Leoline’s Chivalry, the medieval atmosphere is strengthened. After listening to
the sad story of Geraldine, the old Baron who even forgot his age and
proclaimed that he would himself fight against those warriors who had thus
wronged her.
We have medieval faith in the
poem. The strong religious faith of the Catholic Middle Ages in the invocation
to Mary and Jesus is introduced in the poem, as we find in Christabel’s prayer:
“Praise we the virgin all divine
Who hath rescued thee from thy distress!”
