Christina Rossetti Quotes Flashcards
Themes: - gender - religion - nature - death - temptation - love
From the Antique: (suffrage of women)
‘STWWWOTS,STSGAC’
‘Still the world would wag on the same, still the seasons go and come’
The use of the anaphora alludes to how archaic societal constraints are still enforced through patriarchy, and societal attitudes are intransigent, which is conveyed through the rigid quatrains within the poem.
“Go and Come” is inverted collocation, suggesting that this is peculiar, expressing Rossetti’s confusion with the systematic subjugation of women.
From the Antique: (suffrage of women, only significance within society is their ability to reproduce and satisfy male desires)
‘cr’ and ‘bb’
‘cherries ripen’, ‘blossoms bloom’
Semantic field of natural imagery to portray the objectification of women, and that they are defined by their sexuality and fertility
Echo: (love)
‘tle’, ‘sbol’, ‘pfp,bfb’
‘thirsting longing eyes’
‘souls brimful of love’
‘pulse for pulse, breath for breath’
Semantic field of natural imagery, hyperbolic metaphor that both have connotations with water, which is a necessity for human survival, with the allusions drawn to water Rossetti expresses the difference between secular love and divine love, that a relationship with God is pertinent to humanity. The indication that eternal love is triumphant contrasted with “pop,bfb” conveys the dichotomy of human relationships.
Echo: (religion/ romantic relationships)
‘Odhs,ts,tbs’
‘Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet’
IAMBIC PENTAMETER
Repetition/ oxymoron conveys the stark reality of secular relationships. Non-divine relationships may appear satisfactory and fulfilling but in reality they are corrosive to mankind, and distraction from human purpose (devotion to God). Only a divine relationship can achieve personal fulfilment. Furthermore, the noun ‘dream’ reinforces that romantic relationships are merely illusions of satisfaction etc.
Shut Out: (religious dependance/position of women within society)
‘Assktg’
‘a shadowless spirit kept the gate,’
Sibilance creates sister tone relating to the role of men in the subjugation of women within society. Sense of rejection/ deprivation from society or unity with God. In relation to ADH, a shadowless spirit keeping the gate could be Torvold, confining Nora to the domestic ambience.
Context: Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood refusing to let Christina Rossetti into the brotherhood because go her gender. Gender defines social roles.
Critic: Simeone de Beauvoir ‘second sex’.
Shut Out: (religious anxieties)
‘Fbtbts-bc’
‘From bough to bough the song-birds crossed’
Natural imagery to convey that there is freedom and serenity outside of religion. Religious anxieties leave Rossetti feeling isolated and longing for freedom and happiness away from expectations of Victorian conventions.
Shut Out: (isolation and religion/ position of women within society)
‘Tdws.’
‘The door was shut.’
Caesura and metaphor convey the finality of religious outcasting and the marginalised position of women in society.
Context: ‘shut’ metaphor for the lack of opportunities for women in the nineteenth century. With protests and petitioning for women’s rights to education throughout the 1850s (shut out was written in 1854 and published in 1862), women were only granted the right to an education by state law in 1870.
Critic:
Shut Out: (position of women within society)
‘Iib;asil’
‘Its iron bars; and saw it lie’
Metaphor of ‘iron bars’ conveys the institutionalised punishment of women because of Eve’s actions in the allegory ‘Adam and Eve’. Furthermore, ‘lie’ is implicit of sins, and women’s innately evil nature.
Remember: (liberation/ freedom/ criticism of societal expectations)
‘fitdacl’
Remember does not conform to the conventional structure of sonnet, the form is therefore reflective of Rossetti’s subversion/deviation from society.
‘For if the darkness and corruption leave’
IAMBIC PENTAMETER
Hyperbole parallel’s Nora’s internal conflict between self discovery and freedom, constructed by the expectations of society.
Context: ‘New woman’
Critic: ‘
Up-hill: (struggles with faith)
‘Dtrwu-hatw?’
‘Does the road wind up-hill all the way?’
Rhetorical question/ hyper-Nora (series of questions) convey the unrelenting uncertainty of faith.
Context:
Critic:
Twice: (religion)
‘Rwfig’
‘refine with fire its gold’
Metaphor
Twice: (religion vs secular love)
‘Mhwwos’
‘My hope was written on sand’
Maude de Clare: (position of women/ new woman)
‘Tdwwa-d’
‘That day we waded ankle-deep’
Plosives describe the aggressive placement of blame on women for societal corruption. Rossetti expresses the corrosive impact the ‘new woman’ has on Victorian society. With values of the patriarchy actively being defied by sexually liberated and independent women like Maude who refuse to conform to societal expectations.
Context:
Critic:
Soeur Louise de la Misericorde: (sex x religion)
‘Ndademmf’
‘Now dust and dying embers mock my fire’
metaphor/ personification
Soeur Louise de la Misericorde: (sex x religion)
‘Ovov,d!
‘Oh vanity of vanities, desire!’
Repetition/ refrain/ exclamatory discourse conveys Rossetti’s internal conflict (Freudian sexual frustration and repression at the mercy of religious regimentation. Religious chastity vs sexual liberation.
The constant cyclical use of the refrain presents the unrelenting conflict humans experience between desire and societal acceptance (conforming to societal expectations of piety).
Context: puritan values
Critic: Dolores Rosenbaum criticises Rossetti’s lack of support of female empowerment, instead encouraging ‘female piety, passivity and submission’ to social standards of the time, standards that are defined by traditional christian values.
Soeur Louise de la Misericorde: (sex x religion/ anxieties)
‘Smhwmhsuh’
‘Stunning my hope which might have strained up higher’
Hyperbole conveys how Rossetti’s relationship with God is inhibited her previous decisions.
Context: Rossetti resides at a rehabilitation centre for prostitutes to support their repenting and help them restore their relationship with God.
Critic:
Soeur Louise de la Misericorde: (sexuality and religion)
‘Lal,adf’
‘Od-sl,odf’
‘mrolg’
‘longing and love, a diskindled fire’
‘Oh death-struck love, a diskindled fire’
‘my rose of life gone’
Repetition of ‘diskindled fire’ relates to the emancipation from temptation and sinful promiscuity and ‘fire’ holds connotes to both passion and faith.
