Christabel Memory and the Past Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Line)

Quote #1

Ever aye, by shine and shower, (11)

Every day is exactly the same at Sir Leoline's castle. No matter what good things happen or what bad things happen, nothing will ever change. Since change is inevitable, and only change can create growth, Sir Leoline's world is stifled and dying. Maybe this is what made the castle's protective forces weak enough to let Geraldine in. Perhaps in some ways we can see Geraldine as a savior figure, because she's there to shake things up.

Quote #2

Save the boss of the shield of Sir Leoline tall,
Which hung in a murky old niche in the wall. (162-163)

Sir Leoline was clearly once a warrior knight, but now the tools of that trade are hung up in a wall niche as decoration.

Quote #3

And will your mother pity me,
Who am a maiden most forlorn?
Christabel answered—Woe is me!
She died the hour that I was born.
I have heard the grey-haired friar tell
How on her death-bed she did say,
That she should hear the castle-bell
Strike twelve upon my wedding-day.
O mother dear! that thou wert here! (194-203)

No one in this poem can stop talking about Christabel's poor dead mother. Get over it, folks.