Analysis of Rossetti's poems

Echo -

• Reference to death
• "Paradise" = heaven
• "As long ago" - past, death, memories

Remember -

• Theme of death - she doesn't want any grief
• "For if the darkness and corruption leave" - doesn't want to be remembered for bad things
• Focus on death and afterlife - religious connotations

Song (When I Am Dead, My Dearest) -

• Doesn't want to be remembered - "plant thou no roses at my head" and "sing no sad songs for me"
• Theme of death is prevalent
• "Wilt" - double meaning - ambiguous (flowers)
• Does not fear death - accepting her fate

From the Antique -

• "I wish I were a man" - possible reference to oppression
• Theme of not feeling cared about/not wanting to be cared about
• Weary life

A Birthday -

• More positive (unusual for Rossetti's poetry)
• In reference to other poems - emphasises and over exaggerates emotions and situations

Shut Out -

• Had something and lost it - never the same again
• Death references - "shadowless spirit"
• "It had been mine and it was lost" - love?
• Garden could represent happiness and/or love
• "A violet bed was budding near" - happiness returning but not as good as before

Overall -

• Her persona is not scared of death
• Self pity
• Doesn't want people to mourn her death
• Depression - consolidating herself (illness)
• Coping mechanism
• Death was very common/prevalent in Victorian times
• Writes about things that concern her
• Loss in a sense of absence
• Never married or had children - expectations at the time
• Cut herself off from society
• Identity - female/gender issues
• Didn't believe in herself - thought she would be forgotten
• Emotional pain
• Writes about religion
• Direct address
• Natural Imagery - flowers, trees, birds etc (possibly symbolism of life)
• Rossetti was a feminist