Christabel was published by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1816. Coleridge wrote only two parts of the poem. He did not complete it out of concern that the rest might not be as perfect as the beginning. The poem breaks off at a very significant point in the plot. The setting of the poem is a medieval castle owned by Sir Leoline, an old widower and a baron. He has a daughter named Christabel, who is loving, obedient, and pious.