POETRY | Cousin Kate

Question 1

Context

Answer 1

• Christina Rossetti (1830-1994) was a renowned British poet during the Victorian era.
• Born in London to Italian poets, she was subjected to depressive periods, affecting her creative output.
• Rossetti was religious, with many of her poems containing religious imagery.
• She became involved in the Anglo-Catholic movement and began publishing in literary magazines in the 1850s.
• Rossetti was outspoken in her work on themes of gender and sexuality.
• Her work, ‘Cousin Kate’, addresses the societal expectations of women in terms of sex and gender.
• The poem criticizes the speaker’s outcast status and the marriage of her cousin Kate, who has since married the nobleman.
• The poem’s conflict is between the speaker and Kate, reflecting her desperation with the situation.

Question 2

Structure

Answer 2

• Lines alternate between unstressed and stressed syllables (da-DA) in Iambic Tetrameter (four iambs) and Iambic Trimeter (three iambs).
• In “Why did a great lord find me out
  And praise my flaxen hair? Why did a great lord find me out To fill my heart with care?”
• Breaks in the pattern are often used to emphasize the sidiment.
• Structured Iambic meter maintains a fast pace and creates clear rhythm, reflecting the poem’s ballad-like qualities.

Question 3

Language

Answer 3

• The speaker uses metaphors to express her emotional state post-Kate’s betrayal.
• The metaphor of a “dove” suggests the speaker’s innocence and purity, implying her innocence would have remained intact if not for the nobleman’s betrayal.
• The speaker compares herself to a wolf, [“sit and howl”] who are usually in a pack
  contrasting her outcast status and powerlessness.
• Speaker compares herself to Kate, using “sing” and “wing” as metaphors.
• Kate’s ability to sing suggests she’s not forced to passively “sit” and sing.
• “Stronger wing” suggests Kate’s superior social climbing abilities, causing jealousy.
• The reference to birds could also suggest Kate’s symbolic status as a “dove” due to her decision to stay in marriage.

Question 4

Form

Answer 4

• Traditional ballad form with 8 and 6 syllable lines.
• Regular rhyme scheme throughout the poem, indicating fast-paced, angry, hot-tempered, and bitterness.
• Final verse runs abcbdbeb, contrasting with most stanzas’ odd line rhyming.
• Uses 3 and 4 foot iambic trimeters and tetrameters, allowing for speedy reading.
• Emphasizes bitterness and anger, resembling a letter addressed to CK.