Context - Piteous My Rhyme

• 'Piteous My Rhyme' reflects Rossetti’s engagement with the Pre-Raphaelite movement, which sought to portray love as intense, idealized, and often unattainable - The poem’s exploration of love's pain and sacrifice mirrors the Pre-Raphaelite fascination with emotional depth and the melancholy of unrequited love - This ties into Rossetti’s broader poetic aim to represent the complexities of love, particularly its sorrowful and selfless aspects
• 'Piteous My Rhyme' critiques Victorian ideals, particularly the expectations placed on women to love selflessly and endure emotional suffering - The poem reflects how love for women in this era was often unreciprocated or "misspent", critiquing the fleeting nature of love within the confines of societal expectations - Rossetti’s portrayal of love as unfulfilled echoes the emotional realities faced by women, who were expected to conform to roles of self-sacrifice and emotional restraint
• 'Piteous My Rhyme' connects to Rossetti’s devout Christian faith, which portrayed love as eternal and transcendent - The poem’s depiction of love that “loves forever” reflects her spiritual view of love as divine and immortal, surpassing human limitations - This aligns with Rossetti’s belief in the eternal nature of love, echoing religious ideas about divine love that outlasts earthly existence
• 'Piteous My Rhyme' explores the emotional sacrifice of love, particularly in the context of Victorian gender expectations - Women were often expected to give love without receiving it in return, enduring emotional hardship as part of their role - Rossetti critiques this emotional burden, presenting love as both a source of fulfilment and pain, and highlighting the often one-sided nature of love for women in the 19th century
• 'Piteous My Rhyme' by Rossetti employs the extended metaphor of love as a burdensome, yet eternal, force - Throughout the poem, love is depicted as something that is given selflessly, often without return, symbolizing the emotional toll it takes on the individual - The metaphor extends to portray love as both a source of joy and pain, existing beyond the limits of time and mortality - By using this metaphor, Rossetti emphasizes the paradoxical nature of love - its capacity to endure and its ability to bring both fulfilment and suffering