In their Lyrical Ballads, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth experimented with traditional forms by interpreting them in new ways. Although it attracted little attention when published, the Ballads broke outside established boundaries not only with regard to rhythm and form, but also subject matter and tone. Coleridge used four-foot couplets and ambiguous themes to contribute to the air of mystery and controversy in his various works. Coleridge differs from the writings of his colleague Wordsworth which depict the natural world with poems primarily focused on the supernatural. However, while Wordsworth attempted to discover the remarkable aspects that could be found in the natural order of things, Coleridge attempted to place the supernatural within the confines of reality, thus making it more realistic. In his poem Christabel, he seeks to combine the supernatural and the natural by juxtaposing the fantastic in a realistic context. Coleridge introduces a supernatural presence, Geraldine, into the realistic world, thereby reinforcing her fantastical nature by contrasting her with Christabel, the natural figure. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Coleridge combines the supernatural and the natural to blur the lines between fantasy and reality and, therefore, let readers choose between sensibilities of disbelief and belief. He introduces the image of "day witchcraft" through his character Geraldine, whose supernatural qualities are apparent even throughout the day, a rare moment in usual romantic works. Although she is introduced during the night, by moonlight, and apparently attacks Christabel during the night, her nature is continually revealed the next day, under the sun. It's as if even the sun can't hide her true evil nature, as she tends to attack Christabel's soul, giving her wheezing and freezing fits. Through this “daylight witchcraft,” Coleridge removes the fantastical and mysterious image of moonlight and makes this supernatural aspect of his poem more real, by placing it in the daytime. This adds an even scarier thought: one is not even safe from such things during the day or night. Coleridge attempts to make the unrealistic aspects more realistic, without excluding it from something readers could possibly experience. This enhances the unsettling atmosphere of the poem, as it is no longer clear that it is purely fantastical and something that cannot be experienced by normal men and women. The character of Christabel acts as a mediator between the reader and the supernatural. Just as she is a normal person existing in the physical world consisting of what she can judge from her senses, so are readers. They can relate to it on a basic level to the extent that all normal people, at some point in their lives, have believed they experienced a supernatural event. Just as Christabel, a normal person, experienced great and inexplicable things, the audience believes she experienced something similar. This allows supernatural events to become commonplace and more accessible to the common man. Thanks to Christabel, the public can vicariously experience these fantastic events, making them more credible to them. Coleridge indirectly compares the two young women Christabel and Geraldine, the first representing the one who belongs to the natural world, limited by what she can perceive through her senses, and the second is the mysterious creature of the kingdomsupernatural, arriving in the moonlight and enchanting everyone. those around him. Coleridge uses Geraldine's effect on Christabel as a means of imposing this effect on his audience as well. The poem broke out of the regular confines of accepted form, relying on unusual metrical patterns and alluding to the invisible. Coleridge did this in order to add to this idea of ​​"daylight witchcraft", simply alluding to the supernatural elements found in such a naturalistic setting. He measured each line not by accent but by accents, creating an anapestic tetrameter:BLCOKQUOTE[It's the middle/of the night/near the castle/the clock,And the owls/have woken/the song /the rooster;You/-damn!/ -You/-whoo!And listen, / again! / the crowing / the rooster, How / drow / sily / the crew. (lines 1-5)] He alludes to the invisible, to that which cannot be understood by the human senses, with the entrance of the character of Geraldine. Its appearance itself is fantastic, and the air around it is shrouded in mystery. Even the old mastiff, usually so calm and harmless, gets agitated and howls when she approaches, because she feels both that it is inappropriate for a stranger to arrive at the castle and the qualities Geraldine's supernatural powers. The play's latent sexuality also hints at something lower about the nature of Geraldine and Christabel's relationship. Like other romantic plays, Christabel is full of ambiguity regarding sexual orientation and hints at sexual attraction between the two women. Christabel's perception of Geraldine and the dream can be seen either as her attraction to Geraldine, as a fantasy arising from it, or as Geraldine's spectral presence, haunting her dreams. In any case, Géraldine seems to enchant and seduce those around her, including Christabel and the baron. As Christabel's appearance becomes more haggard and tired throughout the play, Geraldine only becomes more beautiful, suggesting that Geraldine feeds on Christabel's soul. This may also suggest that the supernatural figure of Geraldine is gaining strength and becoming more prominent in the play, going so far as to revel in the day, a time when the realistic figure, Christabel, would gain strength. Although outwardly Coleridge's intention in writing something like Christabel differs from Wordsworth's, the two writers are both attempting to combine elements of the supernatural and the natural, whether by making the supernatural more "real" or by finding extraordinary qualities in the natural realm. Wordsworth's poems describe the world in a purely natural state and attempt to show that remarkable and extraordinary qualities can be found in such a regular environment. It remains only within the realm of what is natural and can be grasped through the senses and through attempts to find supernatural qualities within such normality. Like Coleridge, Wordsworth attempts to blend the two worlds, but rather as a means of discovering the exceptional qualities of the realistic world. However, Coleridge's plays Rime of an Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan, and Christabel depict events that are, blatantly or implicitly, fantastical in their supernatural states. Through these supernatural poems, Coleridge intends to combine the natural and the fantastic and thus touches on realism. This, he describes in his Biographia Literaria, allows readers to believe it, if only for a moment: "in order to transfer from our inner nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient to provide these shadows with imagination that willful suspension of disbelief for the moment "Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a custom article now from our expert editors. Get.