Christina Rossetti 's A Triad

Patriarchal culture has dominated society throughout history. Males have control in many aspects of life and women have continued to fight for equal rights in society. There are many ways women have contributed to the fight for equality; some more physical and other less abrasive. Education and Literature gave the voice to a few women in a male-centered world. Poet Lady Mary Wroth captures the injustices experienced by women in the feminine narrative of Sonnet 9 from her collection of sonnets, songs, and lyrics entitled 'Pamphilia to Amphilantus. In this poem, Wroth explores the thoughts of elite women in the 1700s and uses aspects of her own cultural and historic circumstance to convey the theme of a religious patriarchal society.

while or was it all just a game to him? He used her and made her

Christina Rossetti is a Victorian poet, with a majority of her work being published in the mid-1800s. Her poems are often praised by critics as being the beginning of modern day feminism, and a common theme Rossetti uses to portray this is the idea of ‘wronged women’. Wronged women are often interpreted as the outcasts of society, who have either been wronged or done wrong, often in correlation to a relationship or other lover. Maude Clare is a poem consisting of 12 stanzas, each made up of 4 lines, the majority of which conform to an ABCB rhyme scheme.

The color red symbolics all of the colors and how each can have numerous emotions coming

The notion of women being afraid of love is timeless. Even today, despite the radical increase of freedoms and rights women have in comparison with Victorian women, there is a sense that being in love will take something away from the self. In the movie Iron Jawed Angels, Alice Paul states that “When you are alone, you can make any choice you want, but when someone loves you, you lose that right.” I believe that Christina Rossetti held a deep, subconscious fear that she would lose herself, her religion and her right to make choices in her own life if she allowed herself to truly love and be loved in return. This fear is reflected in various characters throughout her works. More importantly, the lessons learned and ignored by her characters are important for the reader. We may think that perhaps Alice Paul was right; perhaps there are valid reasons for women to be hesitant to fully give themselves over to a power as strong as eros love; perhaps Rossetti’s choice to put religion and a relationship with God above all else was truly the wisest path to take. However, through reading these texts and recognizing what she herself may have known only on a subconscious level, we are able to learn from Rossetti’s choices and realize the need to overcome our natural tendencies to give in to similar fears in our own lives.

Christina Rossetti's Poetry: Controlled and Passionate Rossetti's poetry has been described as both controlled and passionate. Making clear what you understand by the terms discuss which of these two views you have more sympathy with and why. Refer closely to at least three of the set poems.

In literature, red is often associated with blood and violence. Four researchers, Erella Hovers, Shimon Ilani, Ofer Bar-Yosef, and Bernard Vandermeersch, studied colored symbolism and concluded; “Color symbolism is one of the symbolic frameworks used extensively by contemporary societies to convey information and abstract messages through material objects” (Hovers et al.,2003.) Through the use of colors, May vividly expresses the emotions of the speaker towards society, regarding the topics of warfare and education. He specifically selects certain colors, like black and red, to stir up emotions within Jontae. The colors create a symbolic image, ultimately leading up to represent the violent scenes taking place. May writes his fear; “I know how often red is the only color left to reach” (18-19), to show his apprehension for Jontae a young male in society surrounded by warfare. Red in literature often represents blood, sacrifice, and violence. Using colors throughout the poem, creates a more vehement atmosphere, in which Jontae is left to choose between warfare, and discovering his identity in an alternative

In fact, most of them are unidentified and the reader may not identify a specific person that speaks in the different chapters. Thus, the audience may understand it is an embodiment of females focusing on structuring the major theme of the book, which is gender inequality. Additionally, the description of the female characters is equivocal such that the reader has to picture the image of the women. Although the author provides various photos in the book, there is absence of an explanation. Before this, the writer only concentrates on telling the story (Kim,165). Additionally, the author uses poetic approach to explain the setting in the book, which gives the novel distinct styles of writing. In fact, the poems are only meant to provide the reader with a description of the mothers and daughters, and this creates a distinction in the narrative. Resultantly, the audience perceives that when a poem appears in the reading, the author is probably narrating the plight of women. Notwithstanding, the novel uses visual art technique to communicate to the audience. in many instances, the author does not provide a description of an individual such that the reader has to imagine the person. In doing so, the readers are in suspense but the author offers a drawing that may be used to demystify the situation. in support of this style, it is apparent that the visual art may have

Motherhood is at the forefront of the poem, it delves into the aspects of a mother-daughter relationship and the clear maternal influence there is on the persona themselves, the strength of the lineage of women. In the last stanza “embroidered linen” represents the passing of knowledge and inheritance, as linen was usually handcrafted by mothers. The persona struggles to accept the passing of their mother, the chain continues, and in ‘The Twins’, the significance of what a broken chain of motherhood can

The pre 20th century poems ‘Cousin Kate’ and ‘A woman to her lover’ written by Christina Rossetti and Christina Walsh, both explore the presentation of women. Similarly, both poems are unique due to it being written in the 1800’s, as women were controlled and dominated by men in that society.

In addition, the feminist view of sexuality is evident throughout Rossetti’s poem. Laura and Lizzie’s magical experience portrays the pursuit for sensual awareness while struggling between physical identity and spiritual salvation. Furthermore, “She clipped a precious golden lock, she dropped a tear more rare than pearl, then sucked their fruit globes fair or red, sweeter than honey from the rock” (ll. 126-29) and “sucked until her lips were sore” (l. 136). With blatant sexual undertones, this pivotal moment signifies the character’s transition from maiden to woman or innocence to experience. Additionally, this exchange could be a metaphor for Laura’s relinquishment of her sacred virginity. As Laura falls sicker and slowly begins to deteriorate, Rossetti illustrates the consequences of succumbing to the temptation of men’s deceit and the importance of remaining pure. With use of vivid imagery, Rossetti further emphasizes the animalistic and uncanny

Love and Time in Rossetti's Poems It is evident that themes of love and time are frequently referred to in several of Rossetti’s poems and I believe that she treats these themes in a variety of ways. Regarding love, Rossetti explores the disappointment and betrayal caused by love, her love of God as though part of an intimate relationship and the temptation that love causes young women to abandon the traditional rules. Using seasonal imagery, Rossetti relates to time contradicting herself as she often implies that we should take time to enjoy and observe life whilst she also states that she is unable to be satisfied with earthly life and it is death that will provide the ultimate fulfilment.

The poem then explores power perspectives and dwells specifically, on feminist and gender issues. The professor represents the patriarchal power of the past. The time of “calm age and power”. The “girl with the titian hair” is symbolic of the feminist challenge to such patriarchal

Life is full of unexpected changes, advancements and insights. People will look at life through different lenses as they age. However, some social norms will be unwavering. Social norms, such as women being considered the weaker ones in society, have been around for a long time. Hilda Doolittle explores what it means to be a woman in society in her poem “Eurydice”. She alludes to the Orpheus myth and modifies Eurydice’s character from passive to strong to show that women can be resilient and independent even if men try to use women to glorify themselves and even if society tries to downplay women. Doolittle does this through her diction, symbolism and imagery of flowers and colors.

In the poem “Persephone, Falling,” Rita Dove portrays the angst of a protective mother who ultimately fails to guard her most prized possession: her daughter. The poems within Dove’s Mother Love illustrate the often strained relationship between mother and daughter through the mythological tale of Demeter and Persephone. While some interpret the poem as delineation of a specific tragedy, it also embodies the modern mother and daughter relationship that struggles to conform to sexism. Specifically, “Persephone, Falling” delineates the capture of Persephone and questions who should identify as the culprit, exemplifying a warning from a present mother to daughter. Within “Persephone, Falling,” Dove details the struggles of motherhood