Christina Rossetti Poems

Categories: Poems

In this essay I will be looking strongly at the language of the poems of Christina Rossetti 'cousin Kate' along with 'I wish I could remember'. Christina Rossetti came from a large Italian family, which was very famous, she also wrote the Christmas carol 'in the bleak mid winter' and wrote a variety of other poems like "goblin market". Christina Rossetti was born in 1830 and sadly died in 1894. She had very strong religious beliefs, which you can witness in the poem 'Cousin Kate'.

Her brother Gabriel Dante was a famous painter and you can find his pictures on cards today.

In the poem 'Cousin Kate' Christina Rossetti describes the story of a young cottage maiden who gets pregnant by a great lord before marriage which was a vast taboo as she was a woman who had sex before marriage. The cottage maiden was in high spirits and satisfied with her friends, she was not at all attentive of her beauty until the lord flattered her, aphorism that the cottage maiden's hair was soft and yellow.

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She goes and lives with the lord for a while then the lord and the cottage maiden split up and he leaves her pregnant whilst the lord goes out with her cousin Kate. This hurts the cottage maiden deeply and the author shows this in stanza three.

Christina Rossetti helps the reader to understand the feeling of the maiden by using emotional words like 'contented' meaning that the maiden was happy and satisfied before the lord came along, it shows that the maiden was unhappy when the lord left her, she shows this unhappiness in the second stanza "woe's me for joy thereof", this phrase shows it was a cause of sorrow and trouble, that she has had sexual intercourse outside of marriage.

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This is because of the 19th centaury attitudes, if a woman had sex before marriage and got found out she would be treated badly, but if a man had sexual intercourse outside of marriage he would not be treated badly which was very unfair, it still goes on today if a woman has been in ten sexual relationships she will get treated badly rather than the man who has been in twelve. It isn't as bad as those days but the society big (WHAT DOES IT SHOW....)

Christina Rossetti shows pain by via the phrase "Howl in dust" showing she yelled in pain because of how Kate "sits in gold" and dust shows she hasn't got a good deal to live with. The anger and displeasure gets shown by the word "spit" this is what the cottage maiden is feeling until the last stanza (six), Christina Rossetti makes the reader feel sympathy towards the cottage maiden, in anticipation of when she starts gloating about her son which she describes using a paradox, "my shame, my pride" showing she is ashamed of her son because he was conceived outside marriage and reminds her about the lord but also he is her pride as he is her child and Kate cannot have children so at least one thing good has come out of all this. The lord will want someone to take over the throne, when he can no longer do the job. The cottage maiden is proud of her "fair haired son" an shows this well, this is why we do not give her as much sympathy as we do at the start of the poem.

When the reader firsts reads the poem, we get the impression that the lord is a mean man who is a person who messes with ladies to get them into bed. He treated the cottage maiden inadequately, then goes out and gets married to her cousin and knows this will upset her genuinely. Christina Rossetti uses word like "lured" to describe how the lord got the cottage maiden, "lured" shows the lord slyly attracted her to his home by complementing her beauty. When he had her he treated her as a toy, a "plaything" as Rossetti describes.

Christina Rossetti shows that there was no commitment by using a simile "he wore me like a silken knot" "wore" suggests her imaginary links her treatment to that discard clothing, also using the simile "he changed me like a glove" this suggests that he could rid himself of when he suited, he saw her as an object. She uses the word "fooled" in stanza five signifying the lord tricked and deceived the cottage maiden. Rossetti also shows the reader that the cottage maiden think Kate is after the lords money and power and the lord uses this to influence women. Rossetti suggests the lord is selfish and vain, by referring to the way she describes him although she is very bias towards men.

There are many contrasts between the maiden and Kate like love, Rossetti describes the cottage maiden's love for the lord as "true" meaning it is really happening, it exits; subsequently she describes Kate's love for the lord using a metaphor, "writ in sand" showing it could be washed away by the sea. Another dissimilarity is marriage, the lord changed the cottage maiden "like a glove" showing no commitment, although with Kate he "bound you with his ring" showing dedication and assurance.

Treatment by the society also contrast between the both, "the neighbours call you good and pure" about Kate "pure" meaning she is free from faults and sins, Rossetti Describes the cottage maiden as "an outcast thing" signifying the society respects Kate and shuns the cottage maiden because of how the maiden got pregnant outside of marriage and Kate is married to the lord. They all deeply disrespect the cottage maiden for the reason that she had sex before marriage.

I have noticed the difference between them both also they're living conditions, as the cottage maiden, "howls in dust" Kate, "sits in gold and sings" she is affluent and blissful in her affluent surroundings, whilst the cottage maiden is full of jealousy and hatred. Finally the boy is a big contrast as the cottage maiden has a gift Kate has not got, in the result of Kate not being able to have children, the cottage maiden gloats about this changing our attitude towards her in stanza six making us feel sorry for Kate.

Updated: Apr 19, 2023
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Christina Rossetti Poems. (2020, Jun 01). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/christina-rossetti-poems-7997-new-essay

Christina Rossetti Poems essay
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