Form - The World

• 'The World' is written as a Petrarchan Sonnet, a form traditionally associated with idealised, romantic love, but twists it to portray a figure of deception and damnation - This subversion highlights the contrast between appearances and reality, replacing the unattainable beloved with a morally corrupt temptress - Rossetti critiques the romanticisation of earthly desires, using the form ironically to expose spiritual danger rather than celebrate beauty
• 'The World' is written as a Petrarchan Sonnet, with its division between octave and sestet, mirrors the speaker’s internal conflict between attraction and revulsion - The octave focuses on the outward allure of the world, while the sestet shifts to reveal its monstrous truth, embodying the psychological and spiritual duality within the speaker - This formal split reinforces the Christian concept of Psychomachia - the battle between soul and flesh
• 'The World' is written as a Petrarchan Sonnet, and the Volta between the octave and the sestet allows for a dramatic revelation, which Rossetti uses to expose the hidden horror behind worldly pleasure - The sudden tonal shift from enchantment to disgust replicates the experience of spiritual awakening or moral clarity - The sonnet form thus becomes a vehicle for epiphany, guiding the reader through illusion into truth
• 'The World' is written as a Petrarchan Sonnet, Rossetti imposes poetic control over the chaotic and grotesque imagery of moral decay - The formal constraint contrasts with the wild, nightmarish content, creating a tension between discipline and disorder - This may symbolise the religious effort to contain sin through structure, ritual, and devotion
• 'The World' is written as a Petrarchan Sonnet, with its classical origins and long-standing literary tradition, lends the poem a sense of universality and timelessness - By using this well-known form, Rossetti situates her personal spiritual warning within a broader moral and poetic tradition - The form’s familiarity makes the unsettling message more accessible and persuasive to a Victorian audience attuned to poetic conventions
• 'The World' is written in Iambic Pentameter, this closely mimics the natural rhythm of human speech and heartbeat, which makes the poem's themes of temptation and inner turmoil feel intimate and deeply personal - This regular metre reflects the speaker's ongoing, internal spiritual struggle - his battle between outward desire and inward revulsion - The tension between the metre’s order and the chaotic imagery mirrors the deceptive stability of the world’s surface beauty
• 'The World' is written in Iambic Pentameter, the steady beat of iambic pentameter imposes an illusion of calm and control, which contrasts sharply with the grotesque content of the poem - Just as the world presents a polished exterior while hiding corruption beneath, the metre provides a smooth surface that masks underlying horror - This formal tension reinforces the poem’s warning about trusting appearances
• 'The World' is written in Iambic Pentameter, this is a traditional, elevated metre often associated with serious themes, such as morality, religion, and classical ideals - Rossetti uses this form to anchor her spiritual message in a respected literary mode, giving her moral critique a sense of gravity and authority - The metre lends dignity to the speaker’s anguish, elevating personal torment into a universal moral concern
• 'The World' is written in Iambic Pentameter, the metrical regularity symbolises discipline and spiritual order, while the content describes desire, deception, and sin - The push and pull within each line - between stress and unstressed - echoes the speaker’s own vacillation between the world’s seductive allure and the horror it conceals - This rhythmic duality parallels the poem’s central theme of duality and spiritual conflict
• 'The World' is written in Iambic Pentameter, the relentless forward motion of iambic pentameter propels the poem like a march toward doom, echoing the speaker’s sense of spiritual entrapment - Each foot beats like a step closer to the hell that awaits those who succumb to worldly temptations - The regular rhythm thus becomes a chilling symbol of how easily one might slide from pleasure into perdition