Passing and glassing Flashcards
who is the speaker? what are they like/their message?
The speaker tells women they should be judged by their deeds, not their looks.
Written entirely from a woman’s point of view, with no male gaze. The mirror represents self-perception and the speaker’s awareness of her own aging.
3rd person narrator.
what is the language like?
- The title is a metaphor for passing time, as the woman observes herself aging in the mirror and acknowledges approaching death.
- The language is brisk, choppy, and concise.
Flowers are symbolic—violets for innocence, lavender for maturity, grace, and elegance.
The mirror/glass is a metaphor for passing time.
what is the rhyme/form of this poem?
- 3 stanzas, 8 lines each, - AABBCCA rhyme.
- No regular rhythm, creating uncertainty—reflects the controversial subject matter.
- Each stanza begins with a refrain, slightly adapted to reflect different moments in the woman’s life.
what is the context for this poem?
- Published in 1881.
- Diagnosed with Grave’s disease in 1872, aging rapidly and losing her beauty.
- Pre-Raphaelite views on vanity—here, vanity refers to futility rather than excessive self-admiration, a theme explored in Renaissance art.
- Strong Christian faith—gave up three marriage proposals for religious devotion, valuing God’s judgment over men’s.
Worked at Highgate with “fallen women” until 1870.
what are the themes of this poem?
Time.
Women’s concerns and societal expectations.
Beauty as an objective concept.
Deception?
what are some pairings for this poem?
Some Ladies Dress in Muslin Full and White
The World
Goblin Market—themes of women’s beauty, desirability, fruit and imagery.
“all things that pass/Are woman’s looking-glass;”
- Begins with anaphora—repetition reflects societal pressure on women to scrutinize their looks.
- ‘Looking-glass’—both literal and figurative self-reflection, linking beauty, vanity, and transience.
“They show her how her bloom must fade,/And she herself be laid/”
- ‘Bloom must fade’—suggests decline, bringing women metaphorically closer to the ground, trodden upon when beauty fades.
- ‘Her’ repetition emphasizes women.
- Modal verb ‘must’—marks the inevitability of aging and critiques the Victorian view that women’s worth lies in beauty and wealth.
- ‘She herself be laid’—her fate is not her choice, reflecting women’s lack of agency.
“With withered roses in the shade;/With withered roses and the fallen peach./”
- ‘Withered roses’—symbolize lost or unfulfilled love; once beauty fades, women are discarded.
- Alliteration of ‘w’ and ‘th’ emphasizes beauty’s fleeting nature.
- ‘Shade’—symbolizes darkness and isolation, as younger women take the spotlight.
‘Fallen peach’—references ‘fallen women’ (prostitutes Rossetti worked with). - Suggests that women who lose beauty face similar rejection. - Peaches symbolize sexuality, similar to fruit symbolism in Goblin Market.
“Unlovely, out of reach/Of summer joy that was.”
- ‘Out of reach’—enjambment adds drama, emphasizing lack of control.
- ‘Of summer joy that was’—summer symbolizes beauty and pleasure, now gone, marking the start of decline.
- Enjambment emphasizes separation, stretching emotional distance across the line break.
“all things that pass/Are woman’s tiring-glass;/The faded lavender is sweet,/Sweet the dead violet/Culled and laid by and cared for yet;/”
- ‘Tiring-glass’—archaic for a dressing mirror, reflecting attempts to preserve fading youth.
- Lavender symbolizes maturity, grace, and elegance—positive traits even as beauty fades.
- Repetition of ‘sweet’ (anadiplosis) builds drama.
Violet symbolizes innocence, implying that older women retain value. - Gentle rhythmic quality—soft ‘c’ and ‘l’ sounds in ‘culled,’ ‘laid,’ ‘cared.’
“The dried-up violets and dried lavender/Still sweet, may comfort her,/Nor need she cry Alas!”
- ‘Dried’—implies loss but also intentional preservation. Dried flowers retain scent and memory, symbolizing enduring worth.
- Flowers darken progressively—rose to lavender to violet—marking a shift from youth to age.
- ‘Still sweet’—challenges the idea that aging diminishes worth.
- Defiant tone in the final exclamatory line—rejects grief, embracing quiet triumph.
- ‘Alas!’—dramatic, but its rejection moves the tone from sorrow to acceptance.
“All things that pass/Are wisdom’s looking-glass;/Being full of hope and fear, and still/Brimful of good or ill,/According to our work and will;/”
- Aging brings wisdom, not just loss.
- This mirror reflects experience rather than beauty.
- Older women gain understanding of life’s complexities—‘hope and fear,’ ‘good or ill.’
- ‘Work and will’—suggests independence and agency.
Use of ‘our’ shifts from individual to collective, uniting women in shared experience.
“For there is nothing new beneath the sun;/Our doings have been done,/and that which shall be was.”
- ‘Nothing new beneath the sun’—Ecclesiastes 1:9, reinforcing Rossetti’s argument with biblical authority.
- ‘Our’—marks a shift from singular ‘she’ to a universal perspective, moving from vanity to wisdom.
- ‘That which shall be was’—aging and death are inevitable, part of a shared human experience.
- Final lines offer comfort in acceptance, without conflict or anger.
