Context - Passing and Glassing

• Written after her diagnosis with Graves’ disease in 1870, 'Passing and Glassing' can be viewed as a personal reflection on physical frailty and mortality - Rossetti, facing chronic illness, crafts a contemplative tone that reveals the fragility of the human condition - The repeated imagery of mirrors and change suggests a woman’s confrontation with her fading vitality, and by extension, Rossetti’s own reckoning with the effects of illness - The poem serves as a deeply introspective lens into the spiritual and physical anxieties that marked her later years
• In Victorian society, a woman’s value was often tethered to her youth and physical appearance - 'Passing and Glassing' critiques this notion by subtly highlighting how societal pressures reduce women to mere reflections of beauty and domestic worth - The poem uses the metaphor of fading objects to mirror the cultural obsession with female aging - It becomes a quiet act of resistance, as Rossetti shifts focus from aesthetic decay to inner wisdom, suggesting a richer identity beyond physical form
• As a poet closely affiliated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Rossetti often infused her work with their ideals of natural beauty, symbolism, and melancholy - 'Passing and Glassing' aligns with this aesthetic through its contemplative tone and rich, sensory motifs - The emphasis on natural elements and their slow decay reflects the Pre-Raphaelite fascination with the passage of time and the tension between ephemeral beauty and enduring meaning - In this reading, the poem becomes a delicate meditation on how the visual world can both delight and deceive
• Rooted in Christian doctrine and biblical echoes, 'Passing and Glassing' can also be read as a spiritual allegory - The poem alludes to themes of vanity, human frailty, and divine constancy - ideas central to Rossetti’s religious beliefs - Rather than mourning transience, it ultimately gestures towards acceptance and wisdom, aligning human experience with scriptural truths - This interpretation sees the poem not as a lament but as a didactic piece, urging reflection on eternal truths beyond worldly appearances
• 'Passing and Glassing' by Rossetti uses the extended metaphor of reflective surfaces - mirrors and glasses - to explore the passage of time and the transient nature of human experience - These reflections symbolically trace the physical and emotional evolution of women, aligning external appearances with internal shifts in identity and purpose - The glass becomes not just a literal object but a vehicle for introspection, memory, and the inescapable awareness of mortality - Through this metaphor, Rossetti intertwines aesthetic decay with spiritual insight, challenging superficial value systems while meditating on enduring truths