Twice Flashcards
What is Twice about? (2 points)
Composed in 1864, it deals with two offers of love made by the speaker - one to an earthly lover who proves ambivalent, and the other to God who provides her with comfort
Focuses on forsaken women, their struggle to find a voice in which they can communicate their distress, and how they are not the ones wholly to blame for relational difficulties
What is the structure of Twice? (4 points)
The poem comprises six stanzas of eight lines each with varied metrical rhythm
Indentations reinforce the alternating statement and ‘answer’ structure e.g. ‘As you set it down it broke — /Broke but I did not wince.’
Rhyme scheme of the first stanza is ABACDBDC and the others vary
Rhyming fourth and eighth lines give a satisfying sense of resolution at the end of each stanza
What is the language and imagery of Twice? (3 points)
Two dominant ideas distinguish this poem - the heart and God
Rossetti expresses these in terms of a range of imagery
+ Skylarks = happiness
+ refinement through fire
+ Cornflowers to represent male commitment - worn by young men in love in folklore
A man about to marry would wear blue flowers to warn other girls he was committed
What other poems does Twice link to?
Devotional Poems
A Birthday
A Christmas Carol
A Froth on the Face of the Deep
Memory
Up-Hill
What Would I Give?
What is the relevant context for Twice? (4 points)
Rossetti’s depiction of men’s weaknesses contrasts male Victorian poets’ presentations of men as noble, chivalrous figures
She ‘did not wince’ - inverts the expectations of Victorian society, where women were said to be feeble and emotional
Sexual double standards:
+ Men wanted and needed sex - faced fewer consequences for their behaviour
+ Women were expected to be chaste - submitted to sex only to please their husbands
Rossetti did not believe in Purgatory but in a form of sleep after death that souls would pass through before being judged and directed to heaven or hell as appropriate
