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Summary Rossetti Babylon the Great Analysis
In-depth analysis of Rossetti's language, structure, form and meaning
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Rossetti – At HomeInitial 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
- perspective of a (hypothetically?) dead woman- - hypothetically evaluates the contrast
perhaps a reference to soul sleep between the sensuous joy of her friends
way of living and her own ascetic choices
- hypothetically evaluates what impact her death
would have - can be read as a renunciation of earthly
joys in favour of devoting herself to her
- importance of religiosity and faith in life as not to faith
sacrifice salvation in the after life
- friends focus= on immediate gratification
- religious salvation is juxtaposed against celebration
of her friends → religious life is presented as a - Rossetti recognises the sacrifice she is
difficult journey making- but feels that her friends are
risking their salvation
- speaker views herself as a ghost like character →
metaphor for her separation - she is an outsider due - the mood= intellectual detachment
to her religion
- reader to consider their own souls and prepare for
salvation- celebration should be in heaven
- ‘I was of yesterday’- lack of self-worth
Use of form Use of form
- iambic tetrameter
- ‘Feasting beneath green orange boughs’- breaks
metrical rhythm of iambic tetrameter- draw the
reader's attention to it- implies celebration rather
than mourning
- spondee ‘plod plod’ suggests monotony and
boredom- a reflection of her friends, and wider
societies opinion on her religiosity and faith
- ‘I, only, I’- trochee
- lyrical use of personal pronoun ‘I’- becomes more
frequent as the poem progresses- as the speaker
begins to assert herself more strongly- her
commitment to her religion= strong, increasingly
alone
Use of structural devices (include key terms) Use of structural devices
- repetition of ‘To-morrow’- suggests the speakers - rhyme scheme is tightly controlled-
insignificance- perhaps a lack of self worth- perhaps especially in the first two stanzas (the
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