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Christina Rossetti Poetry Revision Notes
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Collection of notes summarising and analysing each poem for exam revision.
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Christina Rossetti revision notesRemember
Themes:
Death and mourning- the speaker presents a divided view, initially wishing hat
their loved ones mourn them, before deciding it would be better for them to
forget.
Love- the speaker considers the wellbeing of the loved one if they were to die
A shift from selfish to self-sacrificial
Context:
Published in 1849 (when she was 19)
After her father has suffered a nervous breakdown
‘Soul sleep’ a purgatory in waiting for heaven (tractanarian beliefs)
Victorian conventions of mourning
Structure/form:
Petrarchan sonnet with the inclusion of octave sestet and Volta
A shift in attitude- in the octave the speaker instructs their loved ones to
remember them, whilst in the second half urges them to forget (change in tone)
Volta at ‘yet’ on the eight line- conforms to the sonnet
No rhyming couplet, no sense of surety -deviation
Direct address- speaking to a loved one, adds to emotive feel
Iambic pentameter – natural speech
Caesura- ‘only remember me; you understand’
Language:
shift in the use of imperatives such as from ‘remember’ to ‘do not grieve’
melancholy tone
euphemism – the speaker never directly addresses death (a difficult concept)
Juxtaposition of ‘forget’ and ‘remember’
As froth on the face of the deep
Themes:
Devotion to god- this poem is all about the power and importance of god
The power of nature- the extended reference to the ocean
Apocalyptic visions – Rossetti suggests Christian notions of the apocalypse
Context:
Follows ‘The book of revelation’ examining Christ’s second coming
Devotional commentary- consistent underlying link to the spirit of god
Rossetti’s devoted tractanarian Anglo-Catholic beliefs
Written in her later life, becoming increasingly devoted to god due to loss and
suffering.
Form/Structure:
Regular rhyme scheme- reflects physical waves/ the reliability of god
Cyclical- god will return Jesus to earth/ waves
, Repetitive use of anaphoric simile
Enjambement ‘O, my god unto thee’ deviates and provides a conclusion which
finalises the poet’s message- ultimate devotion to god.
Language:
Use of fricatives combined with ‘soft sounds’- reflects the simultaneous power
and gentleness of god’s nature as well as the literal soft hushing of the waves.
Use of simile throughout makes allusion but the final couplet emphasises meaning
Lexical field of marine language- compares god to the ocean itself, great and
unimaginably powerful
Biblical allusion:
Genesis: ‘darkness was upon the face of the deep’ direct connection between
god and oceanic lexical field. Dark image makes him appear ominous and part
of the oceans themselves as he is their creator.
Book of Jonah: reference to the ‘gourd’ , a tale which emphasises the notion
of hard work and repentance as Jonah does not care for his gourd.
Mathew: judgement day, when all souls are harvested.
A birthday
Themes:
Heavenly love- the speaker could be said to be expressing their love of god
Earthly love- the speaker could be referencing romantic love for another
The power of nature- nature imagery is used throughout in order to emphasises
notion of love.
Life and death
Context:
Earthly love she experienced with James Collinson and Charles Cayley
Her rejection of these men in favour of religious devotion
Rossetti’s belief of devotion on earth to experience real love in heaven
Notions of heaven and Hell within the tractanarian church
Form/Structure:
Iambic tetrameter- poetry which reflects natural bodily movement and
generates a ‘ti-tum’ sound akin to natural heartbeat.
Harmonious quality to the rhyme scheme- pleasant connotations
Trochee’s on line 4 and 7- places stress on words such as ‘hang’, ‘carve’ and
‘work’ , breaks the metrical rhyme scheme suggesting how the speaker places
urgency on finding something worthy of their love.
Plosives- joyousness ‘boughs are bent’
Fricatives/sibilance- ‘peaceful whispering quality which soothes the reader,
conveying a sense of peace and harmony’
Language:
Natural imagery
Biblical allusion:
‘watered shoot’ from Isaiah: the nourishing effect of god on her heart
‘apple tree’: alludes to Genesis and the tree of life in the Garden of Eden,
alluding to the importance of god in creationism.
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