Summary
Summary Rossetti At Home Analysis
- Course
- Institution
In-depth analysis of Rossetti's language, structure, form and meaning
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
miabrentnall
Content preview
Rossetti – EchoInitial Responses Development of ideas and interpretations
(red)
Meaning / Ideas / Themes constructed and explored Meaning / Ideas / Themes constructed and
by the poet explored by the poet
- regret of lost love, made impossible by Rossetti’s - opens with instructions for someone to visit
decision to dedicate her life to faith her in her dreams and recalls the beauty of
their face
- Dreaming of her love, wishes it could have been
endured by beginning in Paradise - the end of the first stanza → reveals that
this person is from her past and she is
- uncertain voice shifts to a definitive voice- confirms trying to reconnect with a former love in
her decision is final and irreversible her memories
- the tension between faith and earthly temptation- - recalls how she felt while in love and
but does not contemplate prioritising earthly love laments that she didn’t experience this
over faith feeling in heaven where it would have a
- love and loss seem inextricably linked- Rossetti permanence impossible on earth
prioritises faith and divinity over earthly fulfilment, - then returns to the idea that she wants to
loss is inevitable (engagement w James Collinson) relive this earthly love in her dreams, but
expands to say that this memory is the only
thing giving her life any meaning
- uncertain voice- asking that memory, hope
and love would come back to the speaker in
‘tears’ expresses a wish to return, despite
the pain
- disillusionment when a ‘sweet’ dream was
experienced, the speaker did not awaken in
‘Paradise’ but in reality→ sense of
desolation and being cheated by the dream
- complexity of the emotions towards her
lover/ vs the faith that governs the actions
of the speaker, committed to divine
fulfilment
- gender of the speaker= indeterminate
though ‘rounded cheeks’ suggestive of a
woman/ a very young man
- The parted souls wait by the Gates of
Paradise for them to open and allow their
loved ones through into heaven, from
which they never return
- begs their departed lover to visit them in
dreams, where they can see their lover's
, face again and relive all their past
happiness. But while dreaming about this
person gives the speaker much-needed
relief from the pain of loss, their insistence
on living in dreams and memories causes
them to feel like an "Echo"—as if they don't
really exist in the present at all
Use of form Use of form
- lyric poem (concern with exploring human - echoes seem to fade in the final stanza- less
emotion) constant repetition- the fading of memories
perhaps?
- rhyme scheme= regular throughout (ABABCC)-->
perhaps mirrors her sense of deflated passion that
is based on acceptance
- continual repetition within and across each stanza,
‘Come’, ‘Where’- literal echoes throughout the
poem
Use of structural devices (include key terms) Use of structural devices
- use of repetition- structure reflects the creation of - no rhymes are carried from one verse to
an echo→ desire and yearning the next- contributes to the idea of
movement and change
- internal repetition, ‘sweet’ reinforce the intensity
of the speaker's emotions - use of rhyme to combine words of
conflicting meaning- ‘night’,’bright’;
- anaphora in ‘Come’ perhaps used to portray a ‘death’, ‘breath’- draws attention to the
sense of suppressed passion in its repeated stress, instability of the boundary between life and
and ‘Where’ to convey the loss the speaker is death, upon which Rossetti is focused
confronted with
- variations in metre throughout echo reflect
- poem= written in iambic pentameter (with fourth the emotional changes the speaker's
and fifth lines between them creating a full line) experiences- opening trochees, ‘Come to’,
- initial iamb is then inverted to form a trochee ‘Come in’, ‘Come with’- convey passion and
(Tum- ti rather than Ti-tum)--> together with urgency
anaphora provides a pleading tone - strong beat in the line ‘Pulse for pulse,
- first line ‘Come to me in the silence of the night’- breath for breath’- perhaps the breathing
shift from trochee to iambic the speaker wishes to hear from her lover-
stress falls on the repeated consonants ‘p’
- ‘Watch the slow door’ shift to dimeter- meter and ‘b’- recalls the living, not the dead
changes and shifts- slows down action- almost
mimetic in the action of the ‘slow door’
- ‘yet’- antistrophe- shift in tone - combination of long and short line lengths-
visual wave-like effect on the page
- antistrophe breaking first and second
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller miabrentnall. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $6.40. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
76669 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now