Context - What Would I Give?

• 'What Would I Give?' reflects Rossetti’s deep-rooted High Anglican beliefs, particularly the notion of spiritual aridity and the desire for repentance - The “heart of stone” evokes biblical references to hardened hearts in need of divine transformation - The poem’s imagery of tears as a cleansing force and the "black mark" symbolises sin, aligning with Christian ideas of guilt, grace, and redemption - Rossetti’s spiritual struggle is typical of the Tractarian movement, which emphasised personal penitence and moral purification
• 'What Would I Give?' can be read as a reflection of Victorian society’s emotional constraints, especially on women - The speaker’s inability to cry or speak may represent the internalised repression of female emotion in a patriarchal culture that prized stoicism and silence in women - The "heart of stone" becomes symbolic of emotional detachment imposed by social expectations - Rossetti’s own life, shaped by renunciation and duty, is mirrored in the poem’s tone of muted desperation
• 'What Would I Give?' belongs to the tradition of devotional lyric poetry, expressing personal spiritual conflict in direct, emotional language - The speaker’s introspective tone and rhythmic lament resemble the structure of confessional prayers or hymns - The use of repetition (“What would I give...”) reinforces the longing for transformation - Like many Victorian poets, Rossetti uses religious language to explore psychological depth, fusing inner torment with the spiritual yearning for grace and restoration
• 'What Would I Give?' aligns with Pre-Raphaelite ideals through its focus on emotion, symbolism, and introspection - While the poem lacks the visual opulence of much Pre-Raphaelite art, its internalised anguish and moral struggle fit the movement’s deeper aesthetic: beauty linked to spiritual truth - The stark imagery - coldness, silence, stains - becomes metaphorical for inner decay, aligning with the Pre-Raphaelite fascination with purity, corruption, and the soul’s yearning for wholeness
• 'What Would I Give?' by Christina Rossetti employs the Extended Metaphor of spiritual desolation through bodily imagery, using the physical condition of the speaker to mirror an internal state of moral and emotional emptiness - The transformation of the body into something cold, hard, and unresponsive symbolises a soul that feels cut off from grace, unable to access the redemptive forces of emotion, speech, or connection - This metaphorical framework reflects Rossetti’s deep engagement with religious themes, particularly the longing for repentance and the painful awareness of spiritual alienation