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COLERIDGE.
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His poetry and literary criticism.... More...
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Paper Abstract:
His poetry and literary criticism. Coleridge's craftsmanship and definitions of poems and poetry. Analyzes "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Christabel." Suppression of power of human reason in both poems. Poetic ambiguity in "Mariner" and "Christabel." Unclear motivation for death of the albatross. Dark atmosphere in "Mariner." Gothic imagery in "Christabel." Ambiguous relationship of Christabel and Geraldine.
Paper Introduction:
A cursory glance through Coleridge's literary and dramatic criticism vividly illustrates that he valorizes the imaginative aesthetic faculty, much preferring it to constructing drama and poetry according to literary convention, still less rules of literary composition.
But that does not mean that Coleridge denigrates the necessity of craft. Indeed, "Christabel" and Rime of the Ancient Mariner owe much to Coleridge's commitment to the careful craftsmanship that results in obviously artificial evocation. Moreover, Coleridge's literary criticism is also at pains to distinguish between the terms poem and poetry, the former referring to any of a variety of versification conventions and the latter to a much more complex process of composition and versification whereby aesthetic pleasure may be derived:
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This"detail" of the encounter, like the absence of the detail of motivation inRime of the Ancient Mariner, is evocative, as Empson would have it, for thereason that it functions "in several ways at once," so that the reader ispresented with "alternative reasons why [an expression] has been selected;indeed, the author might find it hard to say" (v, 27). "Making Christabel: Sexual Transgression and Its Implications in Coleridge's 'Christabel.'" Journal of Homosexuality 41 (April 2 1): 145-55.May, Claire B. Or was he justbeing thoughtless, having not yet encountered and worked through theuniversal identity crisis and not yet understood that mankind's power overthe things of nature entails stewardship over "all things both great andsmall"? That story, too Gothic-Romantic to be credited, is an exercisein ambiguity that, in a reading of "Christabel" as a demon-lover narrative,accomplishes its intended effect. The dark atmosphere of Rime of the Ancient Mariner is replicated in"Christabel," though in the latter work the controlling imagery is Gothicin nature. Richter. From the fiends that plague thee thus!-- Why look'st thou so!" The mariner answers immediately: "With my cross-bow / I shot thealbatross." The obvious next question is why he shot the albatross--theunasked question that remains unasked and certainly unanswered by the poem.The reader knows from the mariner's earlier story that the sailorsconsidered the albatross a good omen, and from the poem's gloss the readeris meant to understand that the mariner "inhospitably killeth the piousbird of good omen." But why, apart from the evidence of the mariners lackof hospitality, the mariner killed the bird is not directly explained bythe text any more than Hamlet's reasons for delaying are directlyexplained. what ails poor Geraldine? Works CitedBaumer, Franklin L. The wedding guest, watching the mariner who hasmesmerized him with his gaze, asks a direct question: "God save thee, ancient mariner! 7 February 2 2. Was themariner a novice sailor showing off on deck? The fact that the mariner's fate, characterized byhis highly consequential confessional mode of life, has been interpreted aslife experienced as "abjection" (May), as a parable of existential guiltand angst (Gill), and as a mechanism of resolution of the universalidentity crisis (Waldoff) indicates the extent to which ambiguity informsthe pattern of ideas in Rime of the Ancient Mariner. New York: New Directions, 1966.Franson, J. As Baumer (262) comments about the philosophical climate in whichColeridge's poetry appeaed: "The romantics, thirsting for the Infinite,also enlarged man's cognitive faculties, and gave free rein to theemotional and irrational side of human nature." In both Rime of the Ancient Mariner and "Christabel," the power ofhuman reason is either suppressed by the poet's imaginative manipulation ofthe text or exposed within the text as corrupt, imperfect, ready to betrayhuman experience. Theproblem of interpretation of "Christabel" is summed up by May: [W]hile they have been intrigued, drawn to read the poem again and again, a certain unintelligibility remains, problems and ambiguities that challenge their abilities to understand the poem itself and, perhaps, even to understand their responses to it. The arc of consequentialaction in Rime of the Ancient Mariner has been characterized as quite clearby Saunders (19-2 ): "The relationship between initial wrongdoing and finalinsight is simple and direct" in Rime of the Ancient Mariner, which takesas a major theme that "wrongdoing leads to stasis, stasis to suffering, andsuffering to insight." It is inconceivable that Coleridge, that careful constructor of theskeleton ship, the salt-water-still ocean, and ice and fog of the SouthPole could not have explained what led to the wrongdoing if he had chosento do so. Christabel is entranced by the Nature-perfect image ofGeraldine's frail, exquisite, battered beauty before Geraldine makes herfirst deceptive statement. When Geraldine has entered Christabel's chamber and is on thepoint of drawing Christabel to bed, she seems to be able to see andproceeds to rout out the maternal, protective spirit of Christabel'smother: But soon, with altered voice, said she-- 'Off, wandering mother! Peak and pine! / Jesu, Maria, shield her well!"The caution occurs before Christabel hears Geraldine (actually "it") moanbehind the tree. It is inconceivable that this thoughtful critic of his own andothers' poetry, did not intend to withhold from the reader a definitivedescription of the mariner's motivation. Richter. What is clear from the text is that Geraldine hasuncommon power to influence Christabel, who is undoubtedly vulnerable,whether the content of that vulnerability is her credulous innocence, herphysical readiness for her first sexual encounter, or her melancholylonging for an absent courtly lover. He drifts off only to be visited by thegroans of the dead men inhabited by spirits and demons who discuss themanner in which he will expiate his guilt: "The man hath penance done, Andpenance more will do." Stockholder (43ff) develops the idea that themariner's nightmarish experiences are like a dream that fails to resolvethe tension between day residue and deeper psychological preoccupations.This would explain why the mariner re-experiences the dream and resolves itonly by way of repeating the penance associated with of being so obsessedwith its contents that he must find someone to tell the story to. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Geraldine engages in deliberate rhetorical action in her encounterwith Christabel, and a primary feature of both her language and thelanguage of the narrative is ambiguity. And as a matter of fact "Christabel" doestell a story complete enough to effect strong and multivaried readerresponses. As May points out, Geraldine is at once beautiful and"abject," a combination that moves Christabel to function as acompassionate hostess. 't is given to me.' ("Christabel" 19 -2 ) May explains the deliberate indeterminacy of the encounter by citingthe fact that the "narrator never reveals what occurs between Geraldine andChristabel, whether lesbian eroticism, the kiss of a vampire, or maternalnurturing--but he does say that Geraldine slumbers "As a mother with herchild" (line 3 1), thus aligning her with the maternal, however frighteningand desirable" (7 8). Modern European Thought: Continuity and Change in Ideas, 16 -195 . The relevance of this definition, which may be compared to Aristotle'sdefinition of the parts of tragedy, to the present research is that itimplies the need for conscious and careful artistic method to accomplishits object. / She shrunkand shuddered, and saw again." Whether the embrace horrifies Christabelbecause it awakens incestuous memory or because she is jealous of herfather's embrace of Geraldine is not made explicit by the text. The fact that Geraldine is unable to cross the threshold under her ownpower has been interpreted as a folk-wisdom clue to her identity as a witchor demon (May passim; Grossberg 145), though the text is not explicit.Indeed, critics have challenged the idea that "Christabel" is above all thetale of a demon lover. The absence of explicit motivation in Rime of the Ancient Mariner canbe interpreted in a way consistent with Empson's analysis of what he callsthe first type of poetic ambiguity, identified "when a detail is effectivein several ways at once" (v), or when there is some device of "deliberateobscurity" that "leave[s] it to the reader vaguely to invent something, andmake him leave it at the back of his mind" (23) while proceeding throughthe text. In that regard, the mariner'sinvocation of sleep as "a gentle thing, / Beloved from pole to pole"resonates with irony and ambiguity. Why stares she with unsettled eye? The image of the lovely Christabel's initial encounter with Geraldinearrives at rhetorical ambiguity in part because of the contrast between theinnocence of Christabel's prayer for her lover and the fact that the readeris notified, by the poet, that she--more exactly her soul--is being put inperil: "Hush, beating heart of Christabel! William Cullen Bryant. May (711) cites Anne Williams'scomment on "readers' urge to interpret the text" of Rime of the AncientMariner, which she says derives its power "from the poem's discovery ofintense, primitive anxieties fundamental to the self." Coleridge'sintention, indeed, appears to be to force readers to bring to Rime of theAncient Mariner an idiosyncratic interpretation of his motives and to drawtheir own conclusions about the extremity of the consequences. The narrative line is simple,though not straightforward. Grossberg says that focusing on the lesbianimplications of the encounter more successfully resolves the narrativeambiguity of the encounter. But that does not mean that Coleridge denigrates the necessity ofcraft. But the supposed incompleteness of thepoem may itself be a literary conceit; it is difficult to see why the poetwould make such a project of providing "The Conclusion to Part II" withouthaving done the same for Part I. "Coleridge's 'Christabel,' Lines 23-42." Explicator 52 (Spring 1994): 153-5.Gill, R. Indeed, "Christabel" and Rime of the Ancient Mariner owe much toColeridge's commitment to the careful craftsmanship that results inobviously artificial evocation. The reader is obliged to guess at or invent motivation for thebehavior that drives the entire sea-story-within-the-wedding-guest story,though the mariner understands that he "had done a hellish thing, thoughhis fellow sailors are ready with recriminations, and though Nature itself,pursuant to those recriminations, betrays the entire voyage and punishesthe mariner's very lifetime for his behavior. And why with hollow voice cries she, 'Off, woman, off! The ambiguity of contrast continues: "I guess, 't wasfrightful there to see / A lady so richly clad as she- / Beautifulexceedingly!" Franson cites (154) the contrast between the description ofthe lovely Geraldine and the description of her as "an embodiment of evil"that is the equivalent of the Beast in the Book of Revelation. Christabel recalls sleeping with Geraldine witha secret rush of pleasure, and Christabel's carrying Geraldine over thethreshold can be interpreted less as an index of Geraldine's identity asthe demon lover than as Christabel's adoption of the masculine sexual rolein the encounter. "Toward a More Adequate Criticism of Poetic Structure." The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. New York: Gramercy Books, 1999. Ed. A cursory glance through Coleridge's literary and dramatic criticismvividly illustrates that he valorizes the imaginative aesthetic faculty,much preferring it to constructing drama and poetry according to literaryconvention, still less rules of literary composition. Karl. . Can she the bodiless dead espy? "'Large Bad Picture' and 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner': A Note on Elizabeth Bishop's Modern Aesthetics. "The Quest for Father and Identity in the Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Psychoanalytic Review 58 (Fall 1971): 439-453.Williams, Anne. "'Christabel' and Abjection: Coleridge's Narrative in Process/on Trial." Studies in English Literature, 15 -19 37 (Autumn 1997): 699-722.Saunders, Judith P. ANQ 8 (Summer 1995): 17-22.Stockholder, Kay. David H. So muchfor the moral judgment that actions have consequences. "From Biographia Literaria." The Critical Tradition: Classic Texts and Contemporary Trends. The nature of the encounter between Christabel and Geraldine isthe source of narrative ambiguity, which is further complicated by therepresentation that "Christabel" is said to be an incomplete poem. She cites Coleridge'sacknowledgment that the "moral fails to translate the Mariner'sexperience," adding that it "is an abstract and pietistic attempt tosummarize and thus contain the uncontainable horror of abjection." Nor doesthat highly explicit quatrain resolve the ambiguity of the mariner's beingsingled out for a lifetime of horrific memory and eternal return topunishment and expiation. The fact that the poet takes the trouble to introduce Geraldine in acontext of danger for Christabel helps explain why Geraldine has beenidentified with the figure of the demon lover, the eternal mother, and thelesbian lover. Geraldine tells a tale of abduction andhumiliation at the hands of knights, and Christabel invites her to spendthe night. Crane (782) cautions against accepting too readily any author'sexplication of his methods, citing in particular "Coleridge's statementsabout the kind of poem he designed Rime of the Ancient Mariner to be." Butthe setting and mood of both "Christabel" and Rime of the Ancient Mariner,which sustain an extended narrative, may be readily distinguished fromWordsworth's pastoral poetry as representing a strain of Romanticism thatchallenged Enlightenment notions of the perfectibility of mankind by way ofreason. The curious factabout the availability of alternative reasons to explain the manifest textis that ambiguity lends both Rime of the Ancient Mariner and "Christabel"uncommon power and coherence, both as narrative and as an exercise inconvincing evocation, even though (or precisely because) the readers areobliged to fill in the poet's ellipses for themselves. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1995. Ed. He seems aware that experience with Geraldine, that figure of the abject maternal, holds out the possibility of joy as well as pain (May 712).Whether the rapture was the result of an experience of a protective,maternal embrace or lesbian sex is not made explicit, which may beprofoundly the point that Coleridge is making when he characterizes the aimof poetry as an exercise not in truth but in coherent pleasure. May elaborates the ambiguous nature of themoment: But fear and distress are not the only responses to the recollection of Geraldine's embrace of Christabel; the narrator recalls that in the repose following their intimacy, Christabel had experienced a "vision blest" (line 464) that "[h]ad put a rapture in her breast" (line 467). May also notes that the debate about the content ofthe relationship between Geraldine and Christabel is far from resolved. The whole of the text thatfollows the murder of the albatross explores the dire consequences of thekilling and extends so far as to reach the main behavioral impact on themariner, which is that, for the rest of his life, he is obliged to makeperiodic confession of his sin and seek moral absolution at the "uncertainhour" when the "agony returns; / And till my ghastly tale is told, / Thisheart within me burns." But that does not reach discourse of the original motivation for thedeath of the albatross. Ed. Art of Darkness: A Poetics of Gothic. Whatever the nature of "this intimacybetween the two women," says May, it also affects the narrator/poet, "whointerrupts the narrative with laments that signify the strength of his ownresponse--his grief, fear, and shame: "ah woe is me! 766-785.Empson, William. 321- 331.---. On the other hand the image of the demon lover repeatedly surfaces inthe text. It is left to the wedding guest (and the reader) to supply thedetails of the motivation that is the pivotal feature of the narrative. off! The factthat Christabel hisses at the embrace is also ambiguous: Does it denotesimple disgust, which would suggest that all was not well at the castlebefore Geraldine's appearance; does it mean that the demon lover has doneits work and inhabited Christabel's soul, either turning her into a demonas well or giving her the insight that her soul is doomed; or is this thejealousy of a lesbian lover? [Cited by May] this hour is mine- Though thou her guardian spirit be, Off, woman. Later, after Christabel and Geraldine have spent the night together,the Baron embraces Geraldine in Christabel's presence with a familiaritythat gives Christabel a "vision of fear, the touch and pain! . Boston: Bedford Books. Selendy Communications, 2 . 645- 51.Crane, R.S. David H. "The Wedding Guest's Nightmare: An Oneiric Reading of Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.'" Dreaming: Journal of the Association for the Study of Dreams 7 (March 1997): 29-46.Waldoff, Leon. But the deliberateambiguity of motivation for the original action remains. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Crime and Punishment: Existential Parables." Philosophy and Literature 5, (1981): 131-149.Grossberg, Benjamin Scott. Having been obliged to supply their own reasons for the mariner'sbehavior, the readers are led to draw the appropriate moral, which is moreexplicitly identified: He prayeth best who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all" (Rime of the Ancient Mariner)May (712) characterizes this moral as "puerile," unworthy of the horrificimages, anxiety, and action of the rime. The rime itself hasbeen characterized as the wedding guest's nightmare (Stockholder 3 f), andthe multiple images of the dying crew, first occurring at sea andultimately recurring when the mariner is on the point of returning to "mineown countree," suggest nothing so much as the ambiguity attending theconfusing narrative action of nightmares. "Christabel" resists all attempts to impose determinate meaning. / . Seven Types of Ambiguity. It remains unsettled and unsettling (May 699)May cites Coleridge's claim to have "always had in mind the completednarrative" that he never finished. Boston: Bedford Books. / O sorrow andshame!" (lines 292-6). "Christabel." Everypoet.com. New York: Macmillan, 1977.Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. I have power to bid thee flee.' Alas!
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