SO Quotes & Analysis

• ‘The door was shut’ / ‘Its iron bars‘

  • Religious allegory or commentary on female life.
  • Presented as though there is no hope for the future.
  • Imagery of the door is frequent in Rossetti’s poems, indicating the barrier between life and death.
  • Iron bars are man made preventing her from being able to enter nature‘s garden.
• ’Flower to flower‘ / ‘Moths to bees‘ / ‘Nests and stately trees‘

  • Repeated stressed phrases continue the calm, peaceful image.
  • Moths would usually be associated with death and decay, yet here they contribute to the sense of peace and quiet.
  • The garden is for all stages of life, which makes her lack of entry even more frustrating.
  • Internal rhyme scheme shows the connections within the garden, all life is continuous and works in harmony, leaving only the speaker outside.
• ‘Blank and unchanging like the grave’

  • First reference to death
  • harsh sounding words echo the despair she is feeling and the coldness of life outside the garden
• ‘let me have‘

  • She must ask permission and has to hand over her happiness to a stranger.
  • she is hopeful that there may be a resolution.
  • Could reflect Victorian roles in society, women must ask and wait for things to be given to them by the men.
• ‘a shadowless spirit‘

  • Could be interpreted as Jesus or God.
  • Reflects Rossetti’s religious doubt and faith without proof, linking to her identity crisis at age 21.
  • Could represent a former lover who she wants to resume a relationship with.
  • Ended her relationship with James Collingson in 1848 over their contrasting beliefs.
  • Spirit is ambiguous so it is not clear who she is blaming for her exclusion.
• Family

  • could be a poem about childlessness and the lack of family life.
  • Rossetti never married or had children, yet she remained close with her brother‘d children, finding those relationships fulfilling.
  • ’peering through’ could imply that she is aware of her role, and is always on the edge of family experiences.
  • The social expectations of Victorian women would have made her lack of children difficult to bear, realising that she is of an age where she may never be able to have a family of her own.
• ‘He answered not‘ / ‘One small twig’

  • She is completely ignored, which could be a comment on Rossetti’s religious doubt about the lack of God’s voice.
  • She lessens her request, instead of a bud that can come new growth, she asks for a twig, which no new life can come but serves as a reminder.
  • The speaker is male, which gives him authority. You could interpret this as a woman being shut out of the world, removed from the ’garden of life‘ by male authority.
  • With Rossetti’s personal views on women it seems unlikely.
• ‘blinded with tears‘

  • Demonstrates her inability to enjoy life with the knowledge of her exclusion.
  • Sight is referenced in the Bible. It could be being used as a metaphor for a positive relationship with God, which the speaker lacks.
  • If interpreted as a poem about personal loss and relationships, it could represent the misery that arises at the end of a relationship.
• Symbolism of Violets and Larks

  • Violets are associated with Victorian literature and fidelity.
  • Lark symbolises hope and possibility, which is ironic.
  • Merely representations and relations, not the truth of her emotions.
  • Lark has female pronouns
  • Maybe the lark has more domestic property than Victorian women, whose husbands own everything.
  • The final couplet gives a conclusive tone, she can appreciate from an aesthetic viewpoint the beauty of the violet and the lark but they hold no emotional value anymore.