What do you find to admire in the poetry of Christina Rossetti?
Christina Rossetti was born on the 5th December 1830 and died in 1894.
She was an English poet and a devout High Anglican, from an Anglo -
Italian background. She also was the sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
who was a famous artist.
Christina Rossetti could be described as one of the 19th Century's
'great odd women.' Even though she did have a variety of poems, no one
has said she was a 'great' poet; however, the reason why we are so
interested in her is because she was writing poetry in Victorian
England and middle - class women were not seen to have any power. The
fact that she had even been writing poetry was very unusual, as most
females had little rights at this time.
Most of her poetry expresses unfulfilled spiritual yearning,
frustrated love and the sadness that is spread through her poems may
be due to unhappy love affairs in her youth, or to the ill health she
constantly suffered. Some examples of this are, 'When I am dead…' and
'After death.' These poems are obviously about death and her poems are
sometimes optimistic and depressing. But simply by writing poetry at
this time, she was making a statement about how a lot of women felt
during this period.
One of the things I admire in the poetry of Christina Rossetti is that
she was very honest in what she wrote. She was not afraid to express
personal thoughts; for example in 'A Birthday' she says, 'My heart is
like a singing bird.' This is very dramatic as she normally writes
about darker feelings. Christina Rossetti is also not afraid of dying
as she has strong religious beliefs that echo through each poem. For
example in 'Song', she expresses that in some way she is looking
forward to death and she feels that when she dies she will be a peace.
When she wrote her poems, most of them were very depressing but she
did, from time, to time write about happiness; for example the poem,
which I mentioned previously, 'A Birthday.' This poem is about
happiness and feelings of love that inspire her. In it, she is very
happy and she cannot describe how she feels enough.
Another thing that I admire is that she had the ability to write in
different poetic styles; ballads, sonnets and songs, among others.
Ballads are a simple song and are very sentimental often with several
verses, with the same beat and rhythm. 'Maude Clare' is an example of
a Ballad.
Through persuading the audience to believe that death is a wonderful and relaxing thing, she takes on a very difficult task. A common thought of the end of life is that it is a ceasing of all things good.
living in such a manner. I did not know the exact cause of her anxiety
It can be assumed that her mother has a mental disorder that prevented her from being able to take care of her
Before delving into a discussion of celebrated writer Maya Angelou, a fuller understanding of the worldview that shapes her work can be gleaned from a brief review of a few lines from the 1962 Nobel Prize winning speech of another celebrated writer, John Steinbeck:
comparing the realm to a large loss in her life. Finally, the statement in the
progresses her actions to things happening around brought her to the end of her life. Other
Christina Rossetti was a pivotal key in the foundations of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, which can be seen, throughout her poetry. Rossetti, as a follower of the Pre-Raphaelite’s, endorsed ideas of unrequited love, acceptance of human mortality and redemption. These ideals both endorsed and challenged the Victorian morals of her era as Victorian morality was focused on repression, class structures, and religion often conflicting with the sexual desire and questioning nature of Rossetti’s poems. The poem Echo is a reflection of Rossetti’s view on the romance and grief in her life through her unwavering faith in religion that will reunite her with her love. Through her desire of a recreation of love in the poem, it is both accepted and challenged through her religious beliefs as the purity of distance in
that she is prepared to die. In her mind the thought of living is just
is a symbol for sacrifice for the wrong reasons. She is caught in a limbo
due to underlying problems that could date back to childhood. However, because she was a very
There are many different themes that can be used to make a poem both successful and memorable. Such is that of the universal theme of love. This theme can be developed throughout a poem through an authors use of form and content. “She Walks in Beauty,” by George Gordon, Lord Byron, is a poem that contains an intriguing form with captivating content. Lord Byron, a nineteenth-century poet, writes this poem through the use of similes and metaphors to describe a beautiful woman. His patterns and rhyme scheme enthrall the reader into the poem. Another poem with the theme of love is John Keats' “La Belle Dame sans Merci,” meaning “the beautiful lady without mercy.” Keats, another nineteenth-century writer, uses progression and compelling language throughout this poem to engage the reader. While both of these poems revolve around the theme of love, they are incongruous to each other in many ways.
She likes traveling to other places, but was ordered to visit Earth. She refers to her maker as “parent teacher” and that she is “here embodied in a decaying lump of meat hanging on a frame of calcium”.(Gaiman 232). This is the physical form of our humanness. All we are is flesh and bones and our bodies are in a continual process of decay. She sees the body not the mind as the meaning of human race. "But knowledge is there, in the meat," She is wearing worry beads, which are meant to relieve stress or protect from negative energy. This is an innuendo to
Lord Byron is often regarded as a prominent leader in the Romantic Movement that is associated with early 19th century England. His unconventional lifestyle, along with his literary works, has contributed significantly to this title he has been given. Through his notorious sexual escapades and his extravagant adventures, his literature was born.
Christina Rossetti's poem, “In An Artist’s Studio”, explores how men foster a need for control by creating unrealistic expectations for women through their fantasies. Through the use of repetition, contrast of imagery, and symbolism, Rossetti guides us through the gallery inside of an artist’s mind, portraying the fantasies that give him a sense of control over the women he creates.
As stated above, some teenagers do have a problem to build the relationship with their parents. As she said in the poem, attempting suicide took place regularly when she was ten. Even though, Sylvia Plath did not mentioned her mother in the poem, the reader can found there is a something wrong with her mother. She did not say one word about her mother like the poem, Daddy. She does not have a companion to share her feelings, she does not have a supporter who could stop her first or second suicide attempt while she get accustomed to try to kill herself “like the cat.” This causes the reader to speculate that she might failed to bond with her mother from an early age.