How can I improve the eloquence of my analysis? Echo Lyric poetry A lyric poem is a short poem that is spoken by one speaker expressing his or her thoughts and feelings about a certain situation or person. The short length of the poem often means that the speaker has to leave much unsaid and concentrate on emotion rather than narrative. The poem is therefore more concerned with conveying feelings with telling a story. It is often characterised with the directness and naturalness of expression. How can I improve the eloquence of my analysis?

Come to me in the silence of the night; Come in the speaking silence of a dream; Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright As sunlight on a stream; Come back in tears, O memory, hope, love of finished years. Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet, Whose wakening should have been in Paradise, Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet; Where thirsting longing eyes Watch the slow door That opening, letting in, lets out no more. Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live My very life again tho’ cold in death: Come back to me in dreams, that I may give Pulse for pulse, breath for breath: Speak low, lean low, As long ago, my love, how long ago.

Echo Stanza One Come to me in the silence of the night; Come in the speaking silence of a dream; Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright As sunlight on a stream; Come back in tears, O memory, hope, love of finished years. How is the speaker feeling? Find: Sibilance Assonance of ‘ea’ Oxymoron Anaphora The rhyme scheme

Echo Stanza Two What impression of ‘Paradise’ and those souls who ‘abide’ there is created here? In Revelation the image of heaven that is given is one of security, rest and peace. It is described as a place where pain and tears are absent (Revelation 7: 17). How does this fit in with Rossetti’s presentation here? Find: Liquid alliteration ‘l’, ‘w’ Internal repetition Oxymoron The rhyme scheme Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet, Whose wakening should have been in Paradise, Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet; Where thirsting longing eyes Watch the slow door That opening, letting in, lets out no more.

Echo Stanza 3 Is the speaker alive or dead? Find: Liquid alliteration ‘l’/’w’ Plosive alliteration ‘p’/’b’ The stresses on line 4 Repetition Assonance of the long ‘o’ sound The rhyme scheme Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live My very life again tho’ cold in death: Come back to me in dreams, that I may give Pulse for pulse, breath for breath: Speak low, lean low, As long ago, my love, how long ago.

What is going on? The speaker has lost someone They want that someone to come back or visit them They have been visited in dreams by that person The poem is essentially trying to capture the feeling of loss, grief and longing.

How does Rossetti create the feeling of loss?

Implies The notion Through The use of T Q I Rossetti Also Suggests Which might hint I Rossetti Also Suggests The concept With* Employing E U That may imply N Evokes The idea In Choosing C O Which perhaps suggests F Creates The feeling Through* Using H Which could be interpreted as Echoes That By Introducing R Reflects Mirrors Emphasises Highlights Exacerbates Exaggerates Poses The writer Attempts to Proposes The poet Tries to Reinforces then Cements Adds to Develops Proffers

How do I ensure I select the most apt and relevant material? With reference to Up-Hill

Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend. But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. May not the darkness hide it from my face? You cannot miss that inn. Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before. Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? They will not keep you standing at that door. Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? Of labour you shall find the sum. Will there be beds for me and all who seek? Yea, beds for all who come.

Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend. But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. May not the darkness hide it from my face? You cannot miss that inn. Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before. Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? They will not keep you standing at that door. Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? Of labour you shall find the sum. Will there be beds for me and all who seek? Yea, beds for all who come.

Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend. But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. May not the darkness hide it from my face? You cannot miss that inn. Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before. Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? They will not keep you standing at that door. Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? Of labour you shall find the sum. Will there be beds for me and all who seek? Yea, beds for all who come.

Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend. But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. May not the darkness hide it from my face? You cannot miss that inn. Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before. Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? They will not keep you standing at that door. Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? Of labour you shall find the sum. Will there be beds for me and all who seek? Yea, beds for all who come.

Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend. But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. May not the darkness hide it from my face? You cannot miss that inn. Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before. Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? They will not keep you standing at that door. Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? Of labour you shall find the sum. Will there be beds for me and all who seek? Yea, beds for all who come.

Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend. But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. May not the darkness hide it from my face? You cannot miss that inn. Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before. Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? They will not keep you standing at that door. Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? Of labour you shall find the sum. Will there be beds for me and all who seek? Yea, beds for all who come.

Critics have stated that Rossetti’s poetry ‘shows her constantly interrogating religious ideas and beliefs, often with a degree of tension and anxiety’. To what extent do you agree with this view?

APT RELEVANT

RELATIONSHIPS When I am dead, my dearest When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget. I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on, as if in pain: And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply may forget.

DEATH When I am dead, my dearest When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget. I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on, as if in pain: And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply may forget.

FAITH When I am dead, my dearest When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget. I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on, as if in pain: And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply may forget.

WOMEN When I am dead, my dearest When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget. I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on, as if in pain: And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply may forget.

CONVENTIONAL MORALITY When I am dead, my dearest When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget. I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on, as if in pain: And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply may forget.

[In Rossetti’s poetry the] ‘female figure is depicted as entrapped or confined – physically, psychologically or both’. Avery [Her poetry reveals] ‘an awareness of, and resistance to, those social and political expectations.’ Avery In June 1866, a reviewer stated about Rossetti’s poetry that there is ‘not much thinking in them, not much high or deep feeling’ [that rather they are], ‘melodious and sweet… quaint’ [Rossetti] was one of the ‘singers of renunciation' Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gilbar [Rossetti] willingly accepts the state of destitution into which she is cast’. Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gilbar [There is] ‘tension between Rossetti’s High Anglican Chuch orthodoxy and feminist sensibility’: Robert Kachur ‘In Rossetti’s poetry, God is always present, is always there’ John Bocher ‘In Rossetti’s view, romantic love …must be tempered…with a complimentary reverence for God’. John Bocher ‘Christina Rossetti stopped trying to rebel: in her devotional writings she finds an appropriate place for a conventional woman's voice" Dorothy Mermin: [Rossetti’s poetry expresses] Her "desire for Christ, the ideal lover" and "visions of fulfillment in all-embracing love . . in Paradise" Harrison [Rossetti is a] ‘mediator of the Christian Victorian woman's resignation to mutability, unfulfillment, and the need for patient endurance’: Harrison ‘Not that she doubts for a moment the certainty of life after death; but it is that wonderfully long interval of slumber in the grave while she awaits the resurrection of the body which attracts her’: Fairchild ‘ she felt that the claims of love were not for her’ Bowra

Simplified Context Over a career which spanned nearly half a century, Christina Rossetti (1830-94) produced poetry in a wide range of forms and styles. A major influence and drive for Rossetti’s writings was her devout religious belief. As the sister of the painter-poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-82), Rossetti was at the centre of the Pre-Raphaelite movement in the mid-to-late Victorian period, a radical group which challenged conventions about art in many ways. She was sometime model for her brother’s paintings – significantly being painted as the Virgin Mary in The Girlhood of Mary Virgin (1848-9) and Ecce Ancilla Domini! (1850) – but she quickly became the movement’s lead poet. Her strong religious beliefs marked her out from the majority of the other Pre-Raphaelites. Indeed, while Dante Gabriel would become more free-thinking and withdraw from established belief, Christina, along with her sister Maria and their mother Frances, maintained a strong commitment to High Anglicanism. Worshipping at Christ Church, Albany Street (London) from the early-1840s, the Rossetti women came under the influence of the Oxford Movement, with its increased emphasis on rituals such as confession and communion. Maria would eventually become an Anglican nun in 1873 and Christina would work for some time with the Anglican sisterhood at the St Mary Magdalene Penitentiary, Highgate, helping prostitutes escape their lives on the streets by retraining them for domestic service. Christina would turn down two potential suitors, James Collinson and Charles Bagot Cayley, on the grounds of religious incompatibility. Many of her poems are overtly concerned with religious issues and it is fair to argue that all her work, even that which seems to deal with more secular concerns, has a resonating religious or spiritual drive. Indeed, Rossetti was viewed as a great spiritual writer in her own day and came to be seen, along with Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-89), as one of the great religious poets of the age. . Writing at a time when established religious beliefs were being challenged by new developments in science – particularly the theory of evolution as it was advanced in Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859) and The Descent of Man (1871) – Rossetti demonstrates one way in which a key Victorian writer examined the ambiguities of faith in a time of major change.

Critics have stated that Rossetti’s poetry ‘shows her constantly interrogating religious ideas and beliefs, often with a degree of tension and anxiety’. To what extent do you agree with this view?

Homework:

Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend. But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. May not the darkness hide it from my face? You cannot miss that inn. Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before. Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? They will not keep you standing at that door. Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? Of labour you shall find the sum. Will there be beds for me and all who seek? Yea, beds for all who come.

Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend. But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. May not the darkness hide it from my face? You cannot miss that inn. Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before. Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? They will not keep you standing at that door. Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? Of labour you shall find the sum. Will there be beds for me and all who seek? Yea, beds for all who come.

Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend. But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. May not the darkness hide it from my face? You cannot miss that inn. Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before. Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? They will not keep you standing at that door. Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? Of labour you shall find the sum. Will there be beds for me and all who seek? Yea, beds for all who come.

Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend. But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. May not the darkness hide it from my face? You cannot miss that inn. Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before. Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? They will not keep you standing at that door. Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? Of labour you shall find the sum. Will there be beds for me and all who seek? Yea, beds for all who come.

Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day’s journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend. But is there for the night a resting-place? A roof for when the slow dark hours begin. May not the darkness hide it from my face? You cannot miss that inn. Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? Those who have gone before. Then must I knock, or call when just in sight? They will not keep you standing at that door. Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? Of labour you shall find the sum. Will there be beds for me and all who seek? Yea, beds for all who come.

Option One: Use your contextual fact as your topic sentence:   However, in ‘Song: When I am Dead my Dearest’, Rossetti challenges this idyllic Victorian perception. In the final couplet the speaker states that after her death, ‘Haply [she] may remember’ and ‘Haply [she] may forget’. The modal ‘may’ clearly implies that there is a possibility that their relationship will not continue after death, and that the choice is hers whether it does or not. This idea is compounded by the foregrounded ‘Haply’ which surely evokes ‘happily’ in the ears of the reader, suggesting she is celebrating her independent decision. It was generally accepted in the Victorian era that a marital relationship would endure beyond death and the couple would be reunited in heaven with God. This belief is very definitely supported by the other great Victorian female poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning in ‘Sonnet 43’.

Option 2: Or use it to develop your AO2 explanation   In the final couplet of ‘Song: When I am Dead my Dearest’ the speaker states that after her death, ‘Haply [she] may remember’ and ‘Haply [she] may forget’. The modal ‘may’ clearly implies that there is a possibility that their relationship will not continue after death, and that the choice is hers whether it does or not. This idea is compounded by the foregrounded ‘Haply’ which surely evokes ‘happily’ in the ears of the reader, suggesting she is celebrating her independent decision. Here Rossetti challenges the idyllic Victorian perception that a marital relationship would endure beyond death and the couple would be reunited in heaven with God. This belief is very definitely supported by the other great Victorian female poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning in ‘Sonnet 43’ yet Rossetti, it would appear, has no qualms about challenging it.

Option 3: Or weave it in like this:   In the final couplet of ‘Song: When I am Dead my Dearest’ the speaker states that after her death, ‘Haply [she] may remember’ and ‘Haply [she] may forget’. The modal ‘may’ clearly implies that there is a possibility that their relationship will not continue after death, and that the choice is hers whether it does or not. It was generally accepted in the Victorian era that a marital relationship would endure beyond death and the couple would be reunited in heaven with God. This belief is very definitely supported by the other great Victorian female poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning in ‘Sonnet 43’, yet Rossetti, it would appear, has no qualms about challenging it. This idea is compounded by the foregrounded ‘Haply’ which surely evokes ‘happily’ in the ears of the reader, suggesting she is celebrating her independent decision.

Homework: Lp4/1