Rossetti & Death ('Song' and 'Remember')

Song:

• Very explicit about the term 'death

• Shows no fear or apprehension when faced with death.

• Darker, slightly more morbid

• Directed at a larger, more general audience

Remember:

• Uses euphemisms to avoid explicit use of the term 'death'

• Similarly unfazed/welcoming when faced with death.

• More positive in nature

• Directed at an individual or small group of people

Maude Clare Notes

Maude Clare - Summary

The poem is about a woman who is in love with a man who has married another woman. The woman, Maude Clare, is the old lover of 'the man'. However, she was not able to marry him due to a difference in social standing and class.

Emotion of the mother in 'Maude Clare'

The mother seems to have had much more influence in regards to the outcome of the marriage. She seems to be keen on the idea of her son marrying a girl of a higher class and wealth. However, she seems to be aware of her son's situation, and appears to have gone through a similar scenario herself. She would rather her son married into wealth and status, than to the woman he loved.

The Lord

He seems to be a victim of his own class. As a result, others tend to make decisions for him, to further the reputation and social standing of the family.

Nell

Nell is boastful in her 'victory' over Maude Clare. She knows that in terms of both looks, and how much the Lord actually loves her, she cannot compare to Maude Clare. However, she has ultimately won over her in the fact that she ended up marrying him.

Rossetti characterizes Nell in the line: "I'll love him till he loves me best, me best of all Maude Clare." The repetition of the phrase 'me best' really shows her cruel tendencies in the way she really rubs in her superiority, or victory, over Maude Clare. It also shows her desire to completely become the object of the Lord's affections, saying that she'll "love him till he loves me best". In her eyes, this would be the ultimate victory and display of dominance over Maude Clare.

Significance of Order of Speaker

The significance of the narrator speaking first, is that he is used to set the scene and establish the context of the poem.
The mother is the first 'true' character to speak. This is indicative of her latent control and influence over her son, the Lord, to whom she is speaking.
The next character to speak is the titular Maude Clare. This reflects the content of her speech, in that she intends to disturb or interrupt the wedding procedures.
The Lord speaks next. He has a very small part in the poem, this reflects his atypical lack of influence over the ongoing events.
The final speaker is Nell. Her finality in the end is a representation of her 'victory' over Maude Clare.

Critics of Christina Rossetti

A brief synopsis and critical analysis of Christina Rossetti's 'Goblin Market'

Source 

Author: Kathryn Dorothy

In this critical analysis of Rossetti's 'Goblin Market', Dorothy explores the nature and themes presented in the poem, as well as its allegoric nature.

Dorothy approaches the poem from a slightly controversial angle, choosing to focus more on the latent sexual imagery, as opposed to the more 'safe' standpoint of allegory or religious imagery. Dorothy is very concentrated on the sexual nature of the poem, choosing to cite it's eroticism as deliberate, a juxtaposition to the claims made by Rossetti's brother, and editor, William Michael that the poem contains no explicitly intended 'profound' imagery. Dorothy also discusses the song-like form of the poem that is displayed on occasion. Another theme singled out by Dorothy is the concept of sisterhood and family relationships in general. On the flip-side of the sexual imagery, Dorothy highlights the presence of purity in the girls, and the effects of contact with men/marriage on them.

To me, the analysis presented is relatively sound. The points made are completely valid, and are backed up with a substantial wealth of evidence, sourced from both the poem itself and the life and upbringing of Rossetti. While upon my first reading of this poem, I concentrated on the allegory and religious imagery within the poem, after reviewing the analysis presented I am know convinced of the alternative nature of this poem. 

Dorothy states that, despite the claims of innocence made by her brother, "That Rossetti could have been unaware of the intense sexual imagery of 'Goblin Market' seems unlikely" This is a well supported statement, considering the wealth of eroticism that can be found within the poem. However, even though Dorothy considers the poem sexual in nature, she does concede that Rossetti more than likely intended the poem to be purely religious in its suggestiveness. She says: "It is far more feasible to see her apparent obsession with certain images in the poem as suggestive of a more religious interpretation," then going to explain: "one in which the goblins may be seen as maliciously evil creatures who have set out to beguile - and then seduce - the two girls." This seems to be a fairly valid and well-supported claim that makes sense in both the context of the poem and of Rossetti's life in general.

"Song" Question Answers

1) What is the poem about?

The poem is, in essence, a message from a deceased person to the living they have left behind. At it's core, the poem is about death, however it departs from most death-related poetry in it's more optimistic tone. Rossetti writes, rather atypically, in a way meant to inspire hope and optimism, as opposed to the usual grief and mourning. This is a strong juxtaposition over the traditional Christian attitudes of the period, which encouraged mourning and focus on the afterlife.

2) The meter is iambic trimeter. Choose one line that perfectly reflects this. What's the impact of this?

One line that perfectly reflects the meter of this poem is:

"Sing no sad songs for me"

This impacts on the flow and rhythm of the poem, providing some stability and familiarity in the first stanza, which is an otherwise metrically atypical stanza.

3) Now find lines that don't fit the pattern. Why don't they? Explain in depth.

One line that does not fit is in the second stanza:
"I shall not hear the nightingale"
This doesn't fit the metric of iambic trimeter due to the added syllable at the end of the word 'nightingale'

Explore the way Rossetti presents nature in her poems.

Nature is a staple in Rossetti’s poetry, and is used frequently, to great effect.

In many of her poems, rather than explicitly, Rossetti uses nature euphemistically to reference other concepts and ideas. One example of this is in the poem ‘A Birthday’. In this poem, Rossetti uses natural images as similes to express her feelings, and her ‘heart’. An example of this is the third and fourth lines in the stanza: “My heart is like an apple-tree                  Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;” This simile is used to liken her heart to a fruit-laden tree. This is used to convey images of plenitude and fertility. On the next line she says: “My heart is like a rainbow shell That paddles in a halcyon sea;” This image carries connotations of; plurality and almost a sense of magic, in the word ‘rainbow’, an image of deep, rich blue with the word ‘halcyon’.

Another way in which Rossetti has been known to use natural images is in reference to Religion, or God. These images are, too, present in the poem ‘A Birthday’. The religious symbolism is focussed in the second stanza. First is, in the second line, the image of a dais: “Hang it with vair and purple dyes;” vair is a pattern often used in the middle ages to decorate royal possessions, and purple being the colour of regality, in context, God, the king of all. The next line states: “Carve it in doves and pomegranates.” In the Bible, doves are symbolic of the presence of the Holy Spirit, and pomegranates are representative of the rebirth and eternal of life of Christ. Its seeds can also be represented as the royalty or the church. In the next line, the poems references “peacocks with a hundred eyes” Peacocks, too, are religiously symbolic of the omniscience and omnipresence of God. In the third from last line, Rossetti makes a reference to the holy trinity of son, father and Holy Spirit, with mention of the symbol of the Fleur-De-Lys.                                                                                         Rossetti has also been known to reference a ‘Tree of Life’, which can be interpreted as symbolic of the crucifixion of Jesus, she does so in the poem ‘Paradise: In a Dream’.

Another way in which Rossetti uses images of nature in her poetry is simply in reference to the latent beauty of nature. In the poem ‘Shut Out’, Rossetti tells of a person who has been shut out of their ‘garden’. In this poem, she describes nature as something incredibly desirable, yet unattainable by way of the voice of the poem. She also uses the garden as a metaphor for such concepts as: Womanhood, escapism, religion, freedom and poetry.           Rossetti also uses nature descriptively in the poem ‘Paradise: in a dream’. In the poem, Rossetti mentions different stimuli that nature can provide unto the senses. For sight, she talks about ‘seeing’ the flowers in her dream. She frequently uses the hearing of birdsong as a metaphor for expression, poetry and creativity. She references smell with the “perfume-bearing rose’. On occasion, Rossetti was also known to use nature in reference to death. One example of this is her use of the phrase: "A violet bed is budding near" Violets being an often-used flower in graveyards.