Christina Rossetti Poetry

New life and love; connotations of godly love as well love between man and woman.

The 2 stanzas of 8 equal line length shows unchanging love.
The iambic tetrameter (heartbeat meter) shows the words are like her heartbeat, meaning the words are heartfelt and true- she feels this love with her whole heart.

The anaphora shows overwhelming love and connotes joy in the speaker.

The simile also emphasises her childlike innocence as she struggles to recognise what her heart is actually feeling.

‘A Birthday’
The quote emphasises that the speaker’s love is majestic, precious and important.

Human/earthly love
Godly/heavenly love

Echo is a lyrical poem about unrequited love; the persona of the poem in lamenting on her past lover.

3 stanzas represent different emotions:
1) The first stanza is a wistful, longing plea.
2) The second stanza shows how she dreams of going to heaven with her loved one – this dream is “bitter sweet”.
3) The third stanza draws on the idea of life and death; when she is awake she feels dead but she feels she can be with her loved one in her dreams.

‘Echo’
The anaphora is emphasising the forceful and demanding tone; this repetition is echo-like.

The imperative tone reflects her desperation.

‘Echo’
The addition of ‘yet’ in the last stanza shows a much less forceful tone, which shows almost the acceptance of her loss. There is a melancholy atmosphere in the last stanza.

Romantic love
Maternal love
Death

This poem represents women as a whole; women, in the 19th Century, meant nothing and, once married, became the property of men. This poem emphasises the “Antique” or old fashioned views society had and how Rossetti wanted progression.

The repetitive stanza length shows cyclical nature of a woman’s life. The spondee of “Doubly blank” changes the tone to bitter and forceful.

Until 1870, when women married, they became the property of their husbands and gave up all their possessions as the man now owned it all. This meant that women legally lost their status when they married, meaning they had no authority or possessions.

Laura and Lizzie encounter goblins who tempt them into buying exotic fruits, Laura eats fruit and falls sick, Lizzie takes responsibility and visits goblins who abuse her. Lizzie saves her Sister from the edge of death.

‘Goblin Market’
This quote connotes that Laura is ‘selling’ herself to the goblins. Her giving away her “precious golden” curls represents the Goblins taking away her innocence. This has sexual connotations as lovers often gave a lock of hair; this is suggesting that the Goblins are taking her virginity.

‘Goblin Market’
This quote emphasises that Lizzie is a symbol of hope and a figure that resists temptation. Lilies have connotations of both life and death as they are used at weddings and funerals; by comparing her to a lily, her purity is emphasised.

‘Goblin Market’
This quote shows how Lizzie struggles with temptation as she does not trust her eyes yet she shows her strength as she resists the desire to look.

Women were seen as more susceptible to falling to temptation; if women gave into temptation, they were seen as ‘Fallen Women’ who had ‘fallen into sexual sin. Rossetti worked throughout her life with ‘Fallen Women’; Rossetti’s attitude towards these women is reflected in Lizzie’s attitude to Laura.

Gender/sexuality
Temptation/resistance
Earthly/divine love
Addiction