In the Round Tower at Jhansi Flashcards
indian
depicts the tragic final moments of a British couple, likely based on a true story during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, where they choose to die together rather than face capture in a besieged tower, highlighting themes of love and sacrifice in the face of extreme adversity
hundred
A hundred, a thousand to one; even so;
The poem opens abruptly in the middle of the story, a device known as in medias res, which serves as a hook to draw the reader in. Hyperbolic language reflects the drama, and no doubt matches the perception of those under siege, looking down at the troops surrounding them.
The pace is fast. This poem would work well spoken aloud in performance.
gained
Gained and gained and gained.
The line is one syllable short of a tetrameter, to add to the choppy, urgent pace.
This is the first of many repetitions in the poem. Here, the desperation is emphasised by the ‘and’s, forming a syndetic list.
swarming
The swarming, howling wretches below
when the population of India was seen as inferior to the white British officers of the East India Company and the troops who protected them. The poem needs to be read in context. Though Christina Rossetti was relatively liberal and compassionate, she shared the many of the views of her Victorian contemporaries.
The description ‘swarming, howling wretches’ is particularly strong and animalistic.
skene
Skene looked at his pale young wife:–
The gender imbalance is appropriate for the time; Skene’s name is included, but not his wife.
She is described as ‘pale, young wife’ to stimulate the reader’s sympathy. She is young and therefore her impending death is a tragedy. The description ‘pale’ suggests fear. She is also clearly new to India and the fierce climate hasn’t yet affected her English complexion.
the time
“Is the time come?”–“The time is come!”–
Rossetti uses the technique of providing an answer that is a rewording of the question. The punctuation is important, the ellipses, creating a caesura or break, that implies reluctance, fear and grief. It is clear that this couple yearn to live.
dumb
Young, strong, and so full of life:
The agony struck them dumb.
dumb love, aristotellian tradgedy, very romeo and juliet
This is an early dramatic climax. The rhythmic triplet, ‘Young, strong, and so full of life’ emphasises the tragedy.
close
Close his arm about her now,
Close her cheek to his,
Close the pistol to her brow–
The repetition of ‘Close’ shows the couple’s love for each other; it is only this that gives them the strength to cope with the terror of suicide.
The grammatical syntax is highly effective, an example of Rossetti’s skill in poetic craftsmanship. The word order is inverted, so that the adverb ‘Close’ comes at the beginning rather than after the noun, a device known as anastrophe. The first three lines of the stanza are also syntactic parallels. This creates a hypnotic rhythm and emphasises the momentous nature of what they will do.
God forgive
God forgive them this!
theme of sin, would rather than become victim
bear
“Will it hurt much?”–“No, mine own:
I wish I could bear the pang for both.”
“I wish I could bear the pang alone:
Courage, dear, I am not loth.”
infanilisation in both here and ADH but equality here - sharing pain
Rossetti crafts this stanza with the devices she has already used; ellipsis, repetition, question and answer, syntactic parallels.
The question, ‘Will it hurt much?’ is typical of those facing and fearing death. There is a child-like tone to this, suggesting that the young wife is far less experienced than her husband. There is also great generosity in this scene. The man wishes to bear the pain for his wife, but she gathers up her courage with ‘I am not loth’, and instead urges him to have courage. They seem equal in fortitude.
kiss
thus a kiss to die
very romeo and juliet - inter-textual reference
retain
I retain this little poem, not as historically accurate,
but as written and published before I heard the supposed
facts of its first verse contradicted.
Rossetti made it clear that she may have romanticised the incident. But she chose to depict the couple’s end as a courageous act, that would have struck a cord with her Victorian readers.
