Poem Analysis for Christina Rossetti’s They Desire a Better Country
Themes:
Religion
Passage
Sublime
Journey
Past and present
Decisions
Summary:
Rossetti’s ‘They Desire a Better Country’ is saturated with biblical meaning and
shows the progression from the past (life) to the Christian Pilgrimage in order to
reach the sublime- secure passage to the afterlife.
Structure:
The poem is structured into 3 Petrarchan sonnets, each showing past, the Christian
Pilgrimage and the future of hope. Littered with rhyming couplets- shows a unity with
God. Through the use of iambic pentameter, the rhyme and rhythm helps us to reach
the sublime, especially through echoes of Jesus’s words “rise up” repeated.
More A* analysis on page 2!
Imagery:
The poem begins with the voice of the self-assured persona remarking upon her past
“I would not if I could undo my past”, there is something assertive through the use of
pronouns “I” and the modal verbs “would” and “could’, as though the persona is
content with her decisions that she would not change her past, equally, there is a
recognition that the speaker is powerless in the face of God, “if I could”- she cannot
change her past. There is a reminder sin in “I have myself to thank” and “faults and
follies”, the plosive nature representing some anger, yet there is this overriding
sense the speaker recognises her faults and has learnt to accept. Rossetti uses
Themes:
Religion
Passage
Sublime
Journey
Past and present
Decisions
Summary:
Rossetti’s ‘They Desire a Better Country’ is saturated with biblical meaning and
shows the progression from the past (life) to the Christian Pilgrimage in order to
reach the sublime- secure passage to the afterlife.
Structure:
The poem is structured into 3 Petrarchan sonnets, each showing past, the Christian
Pilgrimage and the future of hope. Littered with rhyming couplets- shows a unity with
God. Through the use of iambic pentameter, the rhyme and rhythm helps us to reach
the sublime, especially through echoes of Jesus’s words “rise up” repeated.
More A* analysis on page 2!
Imagery:
The poem begins with the voice of the self-assured persona remarking upon her past
“I would not if I could undo my past”, there is something assertive through the use of
pronouns “I” and the modal verbs “would” and “could’, as though the persona is
content with her decisions that she would not change her past, equally, there is a
recognition that the speaker is powerless in the face of God, “if I could”- she cannot
change her past. There is a reminder sin in “I have myself to thank” and “faults and
follies”, the plosive nature representing some anger, yet there is this overriding
sense the speaker recognises her faults and has learnt to accept. Rossetti uses
