Song

• Song is the first poem in the anthology
• First poem in anthology suggests that Rosetti is interested in afterlife and spiritual
• Song is a poem about death
• What themes can song be used for?

  Death and disease
• A03: many people close to Rosetti died before her, including her mother, brother and sister
• Song could show contentment in allowing nature to take its course and lack of control
• Song could be angled as relief from the patriarchal society for women, like how Nora wanted to kill herself
• What poem could song link to?

  From the antique

  Remember

  In the round tower
• Song shows the choice and autonomy in life that death gives you, maybe removal of social boundaries in life remove pressure to be something that is expected
• A03: It was illness that freed Rosetti from having to undertake regular paid work, allowed her to be a poet
• A03: two of Rosetti's early diagnosis were tuberculosis and heart disease, they were seen as indications of the sufferer's sensitivity and creativity so her illnesses both freed her to be a writer
• Rosetti was the cleverest child and Dante her brother was the only one educated in a school as Rosetti learnt from home
• cypress tree is an evergreen, often planted as a memorial for that reason, so denying it adds to her desire that her lover not remember her
• She doesn't want to be mourned by her lover but left naturally when she is dead
• It doesn't matter whether the speaker is remembered on earth, echoing Rosetti's belief in the afterlife
• "Nightingale" is often imbued with desperate human emotion but Rosetti recognises the imposition of human emotions onto the bird, she is aware that it's the human's perception and not the nightingale's song, which is painful