Shut Out Flashcards
What does the title mean? What was the subtitle that was later taken off and what could this add to the meaning?
The title could be taken literally to mean shut out from the garden.
The subtitle was ‘what happened to me’ and could suggest this was a dream.
When was this poem written?
1856
What are the themes of this poem?
Religion, Grief and Relationships.
Who could the speaker be? How does this link to Rossetti’s life?
Eve from the Bible. The first fallen woman. Rossetti was very religious and so Eve could have very well been an inspiration. In addition, Rossetti was very sympathetic of fallen women, especially with her work at Highgate.
What is the opening line to the poem? What is happening? What are the 4 possibilities?
“The door was shut. I looked between its iron bars” - It can mean she’s shut out from the naivity of childhood, that she’s shut away from her father, that a relationship is now over and she’s being pushed away or that she can’t get to heaven and has been shut out. Feeling like she’s in a prison.
Where is the speaker being shut out from? What could this be a symbol of?
“My garden, mine” - symbol of fertility - Rossetti never has children. A symbol of the garden of Eden.
What are some images of nature?
“From bough to bough the song-birds crossed, from flower to flower the moths and bees” - reiterates the idea of the garden of Eden.
“nests” - symbol of life and hope for the future relationships or life after death.
What happened to the speaker in relation to the Garden?
“It had been mine and it was lost.” - it has been taken, she hasn’t only been shut out.
What is the character introduced in the poem by the speaker? Who could the represent?
“A shadowless spirit kept the gate, blank and unchanging like the grave” - very ambiguous description, could be God who’s guarding the afterlife telling her she needs to endure life and suffering until its her time.”
What does the speaker ask the spirit? What can this symbolise?
“Let me have some buds to cheer my outcast state” - the buds could symbolise fertility, hope or just something positive in life to enjoy.
What does the spirit do in response to the Speaker asking for buds? How can this make the speaker feel?
“He answered not.” - can make the speaker feel invalidated, silenced and have no closure.
What else does the speaker ask for instead of buds? What does this symbolise and what does it show about the speaker?
“one small twig” - symbolises barrenness and desperation from the speaker.
Why does the speaker want these keepsakes?
“Bid my home remember me until I come to it again” - could symbolise her father. The afterlife. Returning to God. She needs the keepsake to keep her going.
What does the spirit say to requests of the Speaker?
“The spirit was silent”
What does the spirit do instead of giving the speaker what she wants?
“he took mortar and stone to build a wall” - could represent Rossetti’s own mind and feels unworthy of good things. It could be God preventing her from taking her own life or taking her to the afterlife. It could also represent the difficulty of female writers in a male-dominated field.
What does the ‘loophole’ signify?
“He left no loophole great or small” - there’s no way around it no matter how you look at it, she’s shut out.
What shows how hopeless the speaker is?
“my straining eyes might look” - she’s emotional and desperate but feeling hopeless.
“my delightful land is gone” - it is not gone, not just ‘lost’
What are the themes of this poem?
Life, Patriarchy, Religion
