Some ladies dress in muslin full and white

Question 1

structure

Answer 1

-petrachan sonnet with a volta (octave and sestet)

Question 2

metre

Answer 2

iambic pentametre

Question 3

rhyme scheme

Answer 3

first 8 lines follow petrachan sonnet rhyme scheme and the next 6 divert. (doesn’t conform just as the society she observes)

Question 4

Tone

Answer 4

Didactic (telling you to do something), Satirical (mocking those with authority

Question 5

Some patronise a dog-cart, some a hack, Some think a painted clarence only right

Answer 5

Criticises how people travel and what they look like, Exaggerates the materialism of some

Question 6

what is the significance of the ‘painted clarence’

Answer 6

painted 4 wheeled 6 person carriage

judgement of highly indulgent and stylised way of living

Question 7

‘or a woman with a great coat like sack’

Answer 7

shows how this poem is harsh within its criticism of societies expectations of women and men

unfeminine and unruly, seems to offend speaker based on societal sterotypes on femininity that permeate into speakers views

Question 8

‘towering above her sex’

Answer 8

shows rossettis conflicting feminist views, tallnjess is a sterotypically masculine feature viewed as undesireable and looked down upon in bictorian society

Question 9

‘a man with tassles on his back; or a woman in a great coat like sack’

Answer 9

suggests this is to prposefully attract attention (indulgence in temporal things and stylisation)- theme of vanity of society

connotes women who do this as unfeminine/unruly (seems to offend the speaker due to societal sterotypes of femininity that perfeates speakers views)

CONTEXT- traditionalist, conflicting femenist views: doesnt support sufferage for women

Question 10

If all the world were water fit to drown There are some whom you would not teach to swim

Answer 10

Noah’s arc? Women in suffrage movement? Volta - Shift in sonnet (shift to conditional tense). Prefer some to sink. Lots of water imagery - semantic field / lexis

Question 11

‘rather enjoing if you saw them sink

Answer 11

speaker has unsettling enjoyment within the violence of their imagined death

Question 12

certain old ladies dressed in girlish pink

Answer 12

stereotype of femininity

Juxtaposition of ‘old’ and ‘girlish’. Change from ‘Some’ to ‘Certain’ Criticises old women who dress like they’re young

Question 13

‘roses and geraniums on their gown’

Answer 13

flowers are a symbol of fragility, delicacy and femininity, could show how women try to portray themselves

this is juxtaposed by the violent brutality in next line

Question 14

anaphora

Answer 14

• Anaphora of some resembling the critique of this group who deviate from norms, Rossetti offers a venomous attack

Question 15

what do layers of clothing represent

Answer 15

• Layers of clothing resemble the superficiality of society and the opulence is just an illusion

Question 16

overall critic on womens priorities

Answer 16

omen being focused on appearance and not the teachings of God

R’s critic of women’s independence and shedding anti-fem views- link declining signing protest for women…

Question 17

‘If all the world were water fit to drown’

Answer 17

• Biblical allusion to Noah’s Arc and the drowning of sinners by God which restored society
• Condemning the way of life
• Alliteration on ‘w’ flows through the line similar to the movements of water

Question 18

Go to the Bason, poke them o’er the rim. -

Answer 18

Speaker is authority : Imperative. Dark humour, tells them to drown people they detest.

Question 19

links to other poems

Answer 19

LINKS-
BIRTHDAY REMEMBER (NATURE IMAGERY)
GOBLIN MARKET (NARRATIVE FORM+ FEMININTY+LOVE)
PASSING AND GLASSING (CONSTRAINTS/FEMININTY)