Coleridge’s Gothic Romanticism
Although he would strongly oppose his works being associated with this description, some of the works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge appear to be a curious blend of Romantic and Gothic principles. This paper will analyze these elements, with an emphasis on the Gothic elements, from the two of his poems that are most often described as having a Gothic style: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Christabel.
Gothic literature, now described as a subgenre of Romanticism, can be seen most prevalently from the late eighteenth century to the end of the nineteenth century. Considered the first Gothic work, The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole was published in 1764 (“Gothic Fiction”). Walpole’s work started a revolution in writing whose traces can still be seen today in authors such as Stephen King. Some of the most noted English authors of the early part of this movement are Lord Byron, Mary Shelley, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats, but Coleridge’s Romantic qualities usually keep his name from this list of purely Gothic writers (“Gothic Fiction”).
The Romantic movement, and therefore the Gothic movement, grew out of a rebellion against previous, didactic movements in the Age of Enlightenment (“Gothic Fiction”). It strove to publish works that were entertaining, not instructive, so the purposes of the poems discussed in this paper are mainly to be read for pleasure. It can be argued that The Rime of the Ancient Mariner does have a moral, but the fantastic and supernatural elements in it are the most captivating elements because of their detachment from reality.
Gothic literature uses imagery of “Christian visions of hell, devils, and demons” (White), and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner certainly includes some Christian images and themes. The first of these is simply the mariner’s references to God and the Virgin Mary. He calls upon them several times for help or luck, and by the end, he realizes that all of God’s creatures are valuable and deserve his respect. Furthermore, after the old mariner kills the Albatross, he is forced to wear it around his neck like a cross. Like Jesus carried his cross, the mariner carries his own as a reminder of his mistakes and as a physical weight upon his shoulders until he understands his wrongs. Finally, the mariner goes through the Christian cycle of sin, suffering, penance, and redemption. During the time he is suffering, he is approached by some evil forces, representative of demons, and once the hermit forgives his sins, the mariner is forced to recount his story as a penance, just as Christians have penance after the Sacrament of Reconciliation.
Gothic literature is an “imitation of medievalism” (“The Gothic: Overview”), and its name is inspired by a style of medieval art and architecture (“Gothic Fiction”). While Romanticism included a certain nostalgia for a past and simpler times, Gothicism took it further, deeply entrenching characters in medieval elements and worlds foreign to the reader. Like those in some of Coleridge’s writing, characters of Gothic literature find themselves “somewhere other, different, mysterious. It is often threatening or violent, sometimes sexually enticing, often a prison” (Bowen), and “it usually takes its protagonists into strange or frightening old buildings” (Mullan). In Christabel, the title character is first in the unsettling woods of an unknown location, and then she returns with Geraldine to her home — a medieval castle. The castle develops a feeling of seductiveness because of Geraldine’s presence there. In Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the mariner is trapped on a ship in the middle of the ocean. While a ship itself may not be threatening, it becomes unnerving when the ship will not move and he becomes trapped aboard with his dead crew members.
Another characteristic of Gothicism that Bowen cites is “clashing time periods.” This usually means that elements or inventions from the present time may exist in Gothic stories of medieval times. “There is a strong opposition (but also a mysterious affinity) in the Gothic between the very modern and the ancient or archaic” (Bowen). As seems to be the case with The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, ghosts may also fit the description of clashing times. “A ghost is something from the past that is out of its proper time or place and which brings with it a demand, a curse or a plea” (Bowen). The ghostlike spirits and disembodied voices in The Rime appear in order to punish the old mariner. Once he has suffered enough and done his penance, they return him to the safety of the shore, their demands having been satisfied, and disappear.
As a rebellion against the more complicated use of language during the Enlightenment, Gothic literature is supposed to be written by the common person and able to be easily understood by the common person (“Gothic Fiction”). Coleridge certainly is an average person, as he struggled with debt and addiction throughout his life. While much of Coleridge’s writing is composed with simple language and syntax, some of it, like in The Ancient Mariner, uses more archaic language. Even his notes written in the margins of the poem sound antiquated. This is, however, a characteristic of Gothic literature. Coleridge’s intent is for the language to be reminiscent of classic, medieval times — a time to which the Gothics were trying to return (“Gothic Fiction”).
Gothicism also includes writing with “an appreciation of the joys of extreme emotion” (“Gothic Fiction”), so it should be no surprise that Coleridge’s writings may be associated with Gothicism. Coleridge’s works, especially those written in collaboration with Wordsworth, include great emotion and seem to easily convey a lot of joy or pain. Perhaps this is an influence of Wordsworth’s idea of poetry as a “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth 199). In addition, Coleridge’s writings showcase a love of nature and the joy that can be found in it, but he does not exhibit as great of a love as Wordsworth, who borderline worships nature as a deity.
Gothic literature depicts scenes “of extreme threat and isolation — either physical or psychological” (Bowen). In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the old sailor is isolated (although with the bodies of his dead crewmembers) in the middle of the ocean. This would drive any man to insanity as well as subject him to possible physical harm such as dehydration, starvation, and in the mariner’s case, threats from spirits. In Christabel, the title character is alone all night with Geraldine. Although she may seem respectable, Geraldine definitely has secrets and may pose a threat to Christabel and her home. After possibly initiating a sexual relationship with Christabel, Geraldine forbids her to speak of what happened that night and, for good measure, also leaves her with no memory of it. In relation to that point, Gothic literature is also “full of same-sex desire, perversion, obsession, voyeurism and sexual violence” (Bowen). As previously mentioned, the women in Christabel might explore a homosexual relationship, quite a scandalous topic for the time.
Author John Bowen of the British Library says Gothicism is “a world of doubt, particularly doubt about the supernatural and the spiritual. It seeks to create in our minds the possibility that there may be things beyond human power, reason and knowledge.” He also claims that the intent of Gothic literature is “to shock us out of the limits of our everyday lives with the possibility of things beyond reason and explanation” (Bowen). In his Biographia Literaria, Coleridge says he relies on his ability to make his readers “suspend their disbelief” of supernatural elements, “which constitutes poetic faith” (Coleridge 344), so they get caught up in the story and begin to wonder whether the supernatural elements he describes are in fact real. In Christabel, the reader is left unsure of what Geraldine is capable of and how she came to have that power. It is implied that she casts spells or curses on people and puts them into trances (as she does with Christabel), but it is not explicit if she is a witch, vampire, or some other supernatural creature. It does seem certain, however, that there is evil around her. Whether Geraldine herself is evil or if she is being used by an evil force is never confirmed.
There is another reason why superstition was suddenly becoming more popular and considered potentially existent. The Gothic movement took place after the Inquisition, when Christians were killing other religions, and the Enlightenment, when the use of reason cast doubt on long-held religious beliefs. This enabled people to look past their beliefs and consider what they previously considered impossible (“Gothic Fiction”). There was “both an exaggerated interest in the supernatural and the constant possibility that even very astonishing things will turn out to be explicable” (Bowen). Despite this fascination with the possibility of truth in superstition, Gothicism is “more about fear of the supernatural than the supernatural itself” (Mullan). This idea is best exemplified in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The disasters begin when the mariner shoots the Albatross, a superstitious symbol of good luck. He is then cursed and approached by supernatural characters who bring misfortune on his life.
Gothic fiction often includes eerie elements such as noises in the night, and in Christabel, the title character hears moans in the woods before she finds Geraldine, hinting at mysterious and unsettling events to come (White). The poem leaves a lot to ambiguity, and this mystery also fosters an air of suspense. The reader is full of questions, and unfortunately, most are never answered because Coleridge left it unfinished. Perhaps if it had been completed, these questions would have been answered, but perhaps Coleridge would have left the reader with questions to extend the air of mystery.
Gothic author Ann Radcliffe claims that Gothic works should include terror, not horror. While horror is explicitly and graphically explained, terror is only hinted at. She also claims terror “could be morally uplifting” because it “is concerned with the psychological experience of being full of fear and dread and thus of recognising human limits” (Bowen). For example, threats may be hinted at, but if they are explicitly depicted, the reader will not want to continue reading. If violence is only hinted at, however, it can build up suspense in the reader, further immersing them in the mystery of the story and suspending their disbelief. While there is a lot of death in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the grisly details are never fully disclosed. The most graphic image is when the mariner drinks his own blood to avoid dehydration, but the deaths of his crew members are never graphically described.
Coleridge may have used Gothic elements in his writing, but he would have been vehemently opposed to this suggestion. He criticized Gothic literature, specifically the sexually charged story The Monk by Gregory Matthew Lewis, as corrupting and perverse (Townshend). So why was Christabel so sexual? Perhaps, as Ann Radcliffe says of terror and horror, it is because Coleridge did not graphically depict his characters’ actions. Instead, he only hinted at what may have happened. Coleridge leaves a lot of interpretation up to his readers, forcing them to use his beloved imagination, to decide for themselves.
Works Cited
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Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. “Biographia Literaria.” Ed. David Damrosch, Kevin J. H. Dettmar, and Susan Wolfson. Masters of British Literature. Vol. B. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. 338–46. Print.
Damrosch, David, Kevin J. H. Dettmar, and Susan Wolfson. “The Romantics and Their Contemporaries.” Masters of British Literature. Vol. B. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. 3–28. Print.
“Gothic Fiction.” New World Encyclopedia. New World Encyclopedia, 23 Dec. 2013. Web. 08 Oct. 2016.
“The Gothic: Overview.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. W.W. Norton and Company, 2010. Web. 09 Oct. 2016.
Mullan, John. “The Origins of the Gothic.” The British Library. The British Library, 26 Feb. 2014. Web. 08 Oct. 2016.
Townshend, Dale. “Gothic Technologies: Visuality in the Romantic Era.” Romantic Circles. University of Maryland, Dec. 2005. Web. 09 Oct. 2016.
White, Craig. “Terms and Themes.” University of Houston Clear Lake. University of Houston Clear Lake, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2016.
Wordsworth, William. “Lyrical Ballads (1800, 1802).” Ed. David Damrosch, Kevin J. H. Dettmar, and Susan Wolfson. Masters of British Literature. Vol. B. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008. 196–208. Print.
