Christina Rossetti uses imagery, description and comparisons of nature as a way to express her romantic desires along with her religious opinions and ideologies. Rossetti desires a life full of intense love which is a prevalent theme across her poems, although this is translated through nature. Nature is presented across a plethora of Rossetti’s poems such as ‘Song,’ ‘A Birthday,’ ‘Shut Out,’ ‘A Summer Wish’ and ‘Paradise: In a Dream.’
Rossetti also uses the strategy of coupling to imply a positive meaning, which is inferred in ‘Song.’ However when a singular object is referred to, it is often has underlying negative connotations. “Two doves,” “Two lilies,” and “Two butterflies” are all resting upon a singular “branch,” “stem,” or “flower,” which means the positive of the two creatures cancels out the negative of the one. So in this sense, Rossetti presents nature in a way which seems to have a blatant meaning, yet has underlying messages to alter the poem. Opposing this idea is the “Tree of Life” in ‘Paradise: In a dream,’ which is singular yet is representative of God.
Rossetti commonly uses metaphors in her poems to present nature in a religious way, and sometimes to symbolise Christ. She refers to Christ in ‘Paradise: In a Dream,’ where she speaks of “The Tree of Life,” which is historically known as the medieval image for Christ’s crucifixion. Her referral to this makes us see her strong belief in Christ, as “The Tree of Life” is a metaphor for Him: where all life begins, surviving through millenniums, but is also forever growing and providing for all living organisms. This metaphor is her way of stating Jesus Christ‘s presence is continuous, and always fertile for those in need. Religion within this poem is constant, as “twelvefold fruits” is a reference to Jesus’s twelve disciples which spiritually feed the world with religion. The structure of this stanza shows the importance of Him to Rossetti, as the beginning of the stanza differs from the others which use senses to describe the beauty of nature, with “I saw,” “I heard,” and “I hope.” However by beginning the stanza straight away with “The Tree of Life,” shows how Christ always comes first and foremost in her life.
In many ways within her poems Rossetti fuels her desire for a romantic life through her love for God. This is specific in ‘A Birthday,’ where she compares her love for God to the beauty of nature which even then is not perfect enough to explain her adoration for Him. The uniqueness, magical qualities and abundant fertility of “a halcyon sea,” “a rainbow shell,” and “pomegranates” are not enough to describe how her heart feels – she cannot use words to illuminate how she feels. In this sense, nature is not comparable to God. However her heart is ready, found within the line “My heart is like an apple-tree… boughs are bent with thickset fruit,” where the thickset, ripe fruit shows that her heart is reading for plucking by “[her] love.” Her love can either refer to God or to an erotic lover, and either is acceptable to her because she is voicing these opinions to Christ who is accepting of her love in any form.
Nature is used differently in ‘Shut Out’ where the speaker’s garden can be symbolic of many things: femininity, peace of mind, imagination, the class system, changes through growing up, the Garden of Eden and patriarchy. With the speaker being trapped from something which was once theirs, but is now unreachable and will never be theirs again; it is relatable to many aspects of Rossetti’s life. An example of this is her injustice as a woman in Victorian times – she was not allowed the same rights and luxuries as a man. In this sense the garden would be a representation of what men could have but she could not have. There can be many interpretations because Rossetti’s poetry uses detail in description of her metaphors as opposed to detail in the meaning of her poems. She proves the beauty of her garden by using harsh contrasts to the “iron bars” of the prison-like room where she is trapped. The strong, man-made metal is considered an opposite to the garden which is “pied with all flowers.” The nature descriptions and harmony of rhythm emphasises the fixed beauty of the garden; this is obvious with the alliteration of “bough to bough” and “flower to flower.”
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