In the Round Tower at Jhansi (Indian Mutiny)

• • Context narrates the final moments of Captain Alexander Skene— British army officer stationed in India—and his wife. / Rebellion of 1857 - first Indian freedom movement 
• God vs suicide 
• AO1: In ‘In the Round tower at Jhansi’, Rossetti explores… 

  • The impacts of war/conflict
  • The sacrificial, sanctimonious nature of love
  • Religious deviation
• Sepoy Mutiny


  A historical event where many people sacrificed their lives in Jhansi (a North Indian city)
• The Indian soldiers had to sacrifice their lives because they were against British rule
• Indian Rebellion of 1857


  Historical events that the poem is based on
• Rossetti wrote a footnote in 1875 explaining that the Skene family did not commit suicide, but were captured and killed
• Poem

  • Reveals the horrors of war which leads to death and causes deaths of lots of innocent people
  • Critique of capitalism and colonialism
• Rossetti was aged 27 and becoming increasingly engaged with social ideas and current affairs whilst amplifying the religious aspect of her work
• AO2:

  • Shifting of tetrameter - man’s insecurity in the face of God 
  • Verse form - ballad - used for narrative poems  
  • ABAB - rhyme scheme - military structure - power of love -The regularity highlights the horror of the events described. Reflective of military structures.
  • Skene - means performance - reflects the performative nature of this poem - melodramatic 
  • Scattered writing structure - loss of control 
• ‘A hundred, a thousand to one; even so;

  • hyperbole -severity of situation - reality is against them -melodramatic - mocking Skene / in media res - enigma / narrative feel 
• Not a hope in the world remained:’

  • hyperbole - a sense of God - ‘none shall come to the father except through me’ - ‘he gave his life for you and for the many, for the forgiveness of sins’ / ‘God of hope’ - Romans 15:13
  • Anapaest (2 non stressed syllables, 1 stressed syllable)
  • Pathetic fallacy - stormy situation, descent into chaos
• ‘The swarming howling wretches below’.

  • animalistic imagery - grotesque nature of war / reaction to indian rebels - dehumanising minorities / proposition - morality ‘rebels’ - rejection of Christian teachings ‘thou who has not sinned shall throw the first stone’ - prioritisation of man's ego - fall of lucifer -   Falletically phonetic words - weather like imagery - narrative 
  • Monosyllabic and subverts the stressed syllables in prior lines; abrupt. Theatrical, melodramatic enunciated vowel sounds. Guttural - punching action.
• ‘Skene looked at his pale young wife: –‘  

  • omniscient narrative voice - God's eye - cruelty of God / innocence - patriotism - 
  • ‘pale’ - beauty standard - the beauty of love - the death of beauty / patriarchal control - objectification / man = manifestation of greed
  • Ownership and objectification of women. He has a name whereas she does not.
• ‘“Is the time come?” –“The time is come!” –‘

  • juxtaposition of lexical characteristics ‘time’ - judgement day / caesura - tension / dialogue - break free from the restrictions of the narrative - power of love / juxtaposing punctuation - fearful tone strength / imperatives - commanding
• ‘Young, strong, and so full of life: The agony struck them dumb’.

  • Juxtaposition - ‘ Galatians 3:23 ‘there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female ; for ye are all one in Jesus Christ.’- equality of man in the eyes of God - untimely death
  • Their youth emphasises the tragedy of their death.
• “Close his arm about her now, / Close her cheek to his, / Close the pistol to her brow—”

  • Anaphora - fear. - first two phrases= contrast between the intimacy and the brutality of the last phrase - readers think that the love of “Skene” and “his pale young wife” will be ending in a tragedy.
  • Trochee - them getting closer to death, suffocating and claustrophobic + rule of 3 - repetition of “close” three times - omniscience of the trinity- reflection of God’s will and mighty power + build of tension - man as a physical barrier - juxtaposition - mans role as a protector
• "/ God forgive them this!"

  •  ‘season set for everything, a time for being born and a time to die’ / juxtaposition between religion and will - sense of helplessness and foregrounds. / imperatives - desperation - oringal sin + ego of man / ‘father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing’ -responsibility 
• ’“Will it hurt much?” – “No, mine own:’

  • Volta - rejection of social norms - power of love / dash - communication - natural flow / unattributed dialogue - Greek idea of soul mates originating from one body 
• ‘I wish I could bear the pang for both.’— / ‘I wish I could bear the pang alone:"

  • Stanza is full of dialogue
  • Power of man and dependant/superior speakers evident in dialogue
  • There is a sense of ambiguity about which the characters say each piece of dialogue within the poem - reflection of her fantasy and romanticisation of relationships as she had a lack of her own.
  • Contrast to ‘From the Antique’ “I wish I were a man” - change from wanting to be a man into wanting to please a man
  • repetition of personal pronouns juxtaposing with purpose - loss of individual - idealism
• "Courage, dear, I am not loth.”’

  • end stop 
• “Kiss and kiss: ‘It is not pain / Thus to kiss and die. / One kiss more.’—‘And yet one again.’— / ‘Good-bye.’—‘Good-bye.’”

  • Repetition of kiss as a verb - sense of finality + farewells - creates intimacy - pitiful and overwhelming sympathy towards both characters.
  • Dramatic ending - glorification of war + sacrifice, war brings out their love. When things come to end - show most love.
  • Caesura - hesitation to end it, sense of hope that something might change - epizeuxis - longing - loss of innocence  / casura / end stop - finality of death  / wedding vowel