Structure - Babylon the Great

• The poem 'Babylon the Great' uses Anaphora, this operates as a rhetorical alarm, intensifying the moral urgency of the speaker’s warning - With each repetition, Rossetti amplifies the spiritual danger posed by Babylon, mirroring the insistent voice of religious doctrine - The anaphora functions as a liturgical refrain, anchoring the reader in a tone of sacred admonition
• The poem 'Babylon the Great' uses Anaphora, Rossetti dramatizes the psychological struggle between desire and resistance - The phrase becomes increasingly desperate, suggesting that the more one tries to avert their gaze, the more powerful the temptation becomes - This repetition reflects the seductive pull of sin and the constant vigilance required to overcome it
• The poem 'Babylon the Great' uses Anaphora, this closely echoes biblical language, evoking scriptural commandments that warn believers against idolatry, lust, and vanity - Rossetti uses this repetitive structure to mirror divine prohibitions, aligning the speaker with prophetic authority - In doing so, the poem situates itself within a lineage of moral and theological instruction
• The poem 'Babylon the Great' uses Anaphora, this introduces a chant-like cadence, giving the poem a ritualistic quality akin to religious invocation or penitential prayer - This liturgical rhythm reinforces the sacred tone of the speaker’s warning and elevates the poem into a spiritual lament - The phrase becomes a mantra - part incantation, part exorcism - against the power of sin
• The poem 'Babylon the Great' uses Anaphora, this outwardly serves as a warning, its obsessive repetition also hints at the speaker’s own fixation with the figure of Babylon - The insistence on not looking paradoxically keeps her presence at the centre of the poem, suggesting a subconscious fascination - Rossetti may be exploring the blurred boundary between condemnation and desire, where repression can sometimes reveal hidden attraction
• The poem 'Babylon the Great' uses the Sonnet Rhyme Scheme (ABBAABBACDDECE), the tightly woven ABBA rhyme scheme in the octave reflects a sense of spiritual containment, mirroring the attempt to impose moral structure upon a world seduced by sin - The rhyme locks the lines inward, echoing the cyclical nature of temptation and the soul’s entrapment in desire - Rossetti’s form becomes a symbolic structure for resisting the chaos embodied by Babylon
• The poem 'Babylon the Great' uses the Sonnet Rhyme Scheme (ABBAABBACDDECE), the rhyme scheme sets up an internal mirroring (ABBA) that reinforces the poem’s central tension between outward beauty and inward corruption - This symmetry suggests a duality at the heart of Babylon: she is both alluring and abhorrent, sacred and profane - Rossetti’s rhyme order thus mimics the conflict between surface appearance and hidden truth
• The poem 'Babylon the Great' uses the Sonnet Rhyme Scheme (ABBAABBACDDECE), by adhering to a recognisable sonnet rhyme pattern, Rossetti creates a gradual build-up toward the Volta and climactic sestet - The shift in rhyme from the octave to the more varied pattern in the sestet (CDDECE) enacts the turning point from seduction to judgement - It mirrors the poem’s narrative arc, moving from dangerous allure to fiery reckoning
• The poem 'Babylon the Great' uses the Sonnet Rhyme Scheme (ABBAABBACDDECE), the sonnet rhyme scheme, associated with both Petrarchan love poetry and devotional verse, allows Rossetti to blend religious and poetic traditions - Her formal choices evoke Renaissance spirituality, suggesting that even poetic structure can be an act of worship or moral instruction - The rhyme then functions as both aesthetic device and theological gesture
• The poem 'Babylon the Great' uses the Sonnet Rhyme Scheme (ABBAABBACDDECE), the rigid and carefully controlled rhyme scheme enforces a sense of inevitability, much like divine justice which looms over the poem - Each rhyme locks the reader into a predetermined pattern, reflecting the inescapable consequences of sin - Rossetti’s sonnet form thus acts as a formal echo of biblical prophecy - orderly, forewarned, and final