"Christabel" Chronology

The following is a complete chronological list of events in the time period discussed in this hypertext (1800-1816), as well as the selected events in the transmission of "Christabel" in 1798-1799, 1817, 1824, 1830, and 1834. that are touched upon in passing. The chronology represents on a micro- scale what the macro-sized Romantic Chronology provides of the period, and Valerie Purton's A Coleridge Chronology provides of Coleridge's lifetime.(1) and link to the "Table of Contents" and "Transmission Tree."

1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1804 1806 1807 1811 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1824 1830 1834

1798 31 January Dorothy Wordsworth records an image of an "evening sky" that shares similarities with “Christabel” 7 March Dorothy Wordsworth records an image of a "leaf" that shares similarities with “Christabel” 16 September Coleridge departs for Germany, where Clement Carlyon (and others) hear Coleridge recite “Christabel” during a hiking tour of the Harz Mountains

1799 28 July Coleridge returns to England from Germany 15 September Coleridge writes Southey, planning to return to composition of “Christabel” 11 October Robert Southey writes Coleridge, requesting “Christabel” for the Annual Anthology

1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1804 1806 1807 1811 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1824 1830 1834

1800 Single surviving holograph dates to this year 16-17 April Lamb requests Coleridge supply missing lines from a copy of “Christabel” in his possession; the holograph copy is now lost mid-May Lamb repeats request for missing lines to Coleridge 31 August Dorothy Wordsworth notes in her journal a recitation of “Christabel” by Coleridge 4 October Dorothy Wordsworth notes in her journal a recitation of “Christabel” by Coleridge, expressing great pleasure for Part II 6 October Dorothy Wordsworth records in her journal William’s decision to omit “Christabel” from Lyrical Ballads (1800) 6-7 October Wordsworth writes Biggs and Cottle, requesting the removal of “Christabel” fromLyrical Ballads 9 October Coleridge writes Humphry Davy, explaining the excision of “Christabel” from Lyrical Ballads 11 October Coleridge writes Thomas Poole, explaining the excision of “Christabel” from Lyrical Ballads 13 October Coleridge writes William Godwin, complaining of the loss of income from the removal of “Christabel” from Lyrical Ballads 3rd week of October John Stoddart visits Coleridge; they travel to Keswick on the 23rd; Stoddart obtains a now-lost holograph of “Christabel” 1 November Coleridge writes Josiah Wedgewood, comments on the difficult composition of “Christabel”

1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1804 1806 1807 1811 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1824 1830 1834

1801 sometime during this year, Sarah Hutchinson transcribes “Christabel” from the 1800 holograph 9 April Wordsworth writes Thomas Poole, excited that “Christabel” is soon to appear from the Bulmerian Press 6 May Coleridge letter to Southey, containing lines that appear as the Conclusion to Part II in 1816 printed edition November (to January 1802) Dorothy Wordsworth and Mary Hutchinson transcribe “Christabel”

1802 September to October John Stoddart recites “Christabel” for Walter Scott, who is working on The Lay of the Last Minstrel at the time

1804 May (to summer of 1805) Sarah Stoddart records two transcriptions of “Christabel” from her brother John’s now-lost holograph

1806 throughout 1806-1807 Coleridge’s friends and family frequently discuss the similarities between Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel (published in 1805) and “Christabel”; Dorothy Wordsworth remarks that the similarities between the two works will negatively influence the reception of “Christabel” when it appears in print winter Coleridge gives Catherine Clarkson one of the two Sarah Stoddart transcripts.

1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1804 1806 1807 1811 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1824 1830 1834

1807 Coleridge reads Scott’s The Lay of the Last Minstrel for the first time 25 June Coleridge writes to Josiah Wedgewood, fearing that the publication of Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel before his “Christabel” may cause readers to view his poem as derivative of Scott’s

1811 6 May John Payne Collier records the variations between several versions of “Christabel” in his diary 11 October Catharine Clarkson recites “Christabel” for Henry Crabb Robinson

1813 13 June Coleridge writes to Poole, praising the “friends in youth” passage (396-414) as the “best” lines he has composed

1814 3, 4 December Henry Crabb Robinson recites “Christabel” 19 December Crabb Robinson recites “Christabel” to a “Miss Vardel”—Anna Vardill 28 December Crabb Robinson recites “Christabel” for John Murray

1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1804 1806 1807 1811 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1824 1830 1834

1815 14 March Henry Crabb Robinson recites “Christabel” April European Magazine includes a continuation of “Christabel” by Anna Vardill June 1st week Byron hears “Christabel” for the first time, as recited by Walter Scott 18 October Byron writes to Coleridge, praising “Christabel” 22 October Coleridge writes to Byron, responding to Byron’s commending letter 22-27 October Coleridge forwards Byron the Sarah Hutchinson transcript, copied in 1801 27 October Byron writes Coleridge, acknowledging receipt of the Hutchinson transcript 28 October Byron writes Thomas Moore, asking him to review “Christabel” favorable in the Edinburgh Review

1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1804 1806 1807 1811 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1824 1830 1834

1816 13 February Byron’s Siege of Corinth is printed, acknowledging in a note to stanza 19 his borrowings from Coleridge’s “Christabel” 12 April Murray and Coleridge met to discuss the printing arrangements for “Christabel,” signing a contract for the conditions of copyright and publication 23 April Coleridge writes Murray, remarking that he has not been able to complete the Conclusion to Part II 26 April Lamb writes Wordsworth, noting that “Xtabel” is heading to press 20 May favorable review of “Christabel” appears in Times 3rd week of May favorable review of “Christabel” appears in Critical Review—possibly penned by Henry Crabb Robinson with the assistance of John Payne Collier 25 May Printed edition issues from John Murray’s press house (the first of three) June Byron’s “Fare thee Well” appears prefaced with the “friends in youth” passage (396-414) from “Christabel" 2 June Examiner includes a caustic review of “Christabel” by William Hazlitt July Augustan Review notice of “Christabel” charges Coleridge with plagiarism of Byron’s poetry July Byron recites “Christabel” for Mary Godwin, Percy Shelley, and John Polidori; Shelley “ran out of the room… shrieking” 8 July Coleridge writes John Gale, complaining of Murray’s negative treatment of “Christabel” 29 July Fanny Godwin writes to Mary Shelley, reporting that Lamb feels “Christabel” should not have been printed September Edinburgh Review includes a hostile review of “Christabel”—more than likely penned by William Hazlitt and Francis Jeffrey 5 December Coleridge writes R.H. Brabant, complaining of William Hazlitt’s duplicitous view of “Christabel”; Coleridge similarly complains of Hazlitt in a flyleaf note of a copy of the 1816 edition

1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1804 1806 1807 1811 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1824 1830 1834

1817 Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria is published and includes Coleridge’s attack on the negative notice of “Christabel” in the Edinburgh Review 26 March Coleridge writes to John Murray, defending the economic value and poetic merits of “Christabel"

1824 In a letter to Byron, Scott admits to his indebtedness to “Christabel” in The Lay of the Last Minstrel

1830 Scott publicly admits his indebtedness to “Christabel” in 1830 (and in 1832 reissues of Ivanhoe and The Abbot) 22 December Robert John Tennant writes to Lord Tennyson, recording Wordsworth’s opinion of “Christabel”

1834 October John Abraham Heraud suggests in Fraser’s Magazine that Coleridge may have written the Vardill continuation of “Christabel” in the April 1815 issue of European Magazine

1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1804 1806 1807 1811 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1824 1830 1834

Notes

1. A Coleridge Chronology (London: Macmillan, 1993). (back)