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Summary 'May' by Christina Rossetti, notes
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Notes on the poem 'May' by Christina Rosetti, including summary and analysis.
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By: rubysavage810 • 1 year ago
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Christina RossettiMay
Meaning:
The central notion of this poem is the double entendre of May which is both a female
name and the month. This proposes a certain amount of ambiguity as the speaker
never reveals to the reader what the ‘it’ referred to is
The poem utilises the concept of transience such as transience within nature, looking
at change through the seasons hence the confusion proposed through the loss of the
month May which could just as easily be referring to a woman. May is also a word
which proposes possibility, change and loss over time.
By 1855, Rossetti had lost several of those who were close to her and she had also
lost a relationship and experienced broken down engagements. Hence why there is
an underlying sense of loss within this poem.
In terms of religious aspect, Rossetti was greatly influenced by Newman’s Tractarian
doctrine of reserve that encourages the withholding of truth in matters of spiritual
mystery.
Structure and Form:
The poem itself is deceptively simple in structure which mostly conforms to the
sonnet form however truncated (short) consisting of two stanza, one eight and one
five line so to some extent there is a use of the traditional Petrarchan sonnet form as
there is an octave and sestet which is separated by use of a Volta-like change on the
ninth line which presents a transient shift in which the undefined ‘it’ has passed with
the changing of the seasons which left May behind.
There is a contrast presented between the octave and sestet as the fruitful imagery
provided in the first stanza is becomes more desolate as the speaker shifts to using
negative language such as the repetition of the phrase ‘passed away’ which
connotes transience through loss of nature but also suggests a more personal
element of loss.
The rhyme scheme however provides a certain amount of deviation from the
traditional sonnet form as there are multiple couplets, triplets and half rhymes such
as the half rhyme provided on the last three lines between ‘May’ and ‘Away’ along
with ‘Away’ and ‘Grey’. On some level this element of deviation towards the end of
the poem could connote the negative effect of personal loss on the speaker. Indeed,
this presents a sense of disjointedness that could be associated with the feeling that
the speaker is left with; abandoned by love, or abandoned simply by the changing of
the seasons.
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