Who wrote the Gothic poem 'Christabel'?

The Gothic poem “Christabel” was written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It is a supernatural narrative poem about Christabel, a young woman who encounters the mysterious Geraldine near her father’s castle. The poem’s eerie atmosphere, unexplained events, and themes of temptation and hidden identity helped make it an important work of early Gothic and Romantic literature.

Coleridge wrote the first part in 1797 and the second in 1800, but he never completed the additional sections he had planned. He intended to include the poem in the 1800 edition of “Lyrical Ballads,” the landmark collection associated with Coleridge and William Wordsworth, but it was omitted after Wordsworth advised against including it.

“Christabel” was finally published in 1816 alongside “Kubla Khan” and “The Pains of Sleep.” Its unusual rhythm is based largely on accented beats rather than a fixed syllable count, giving the poem a hypnotic, unsettled sound. Keats, Byron, and Wordsworth were important Romantic poets, but Coleridge is the author of this poem.