At Home (FINAL) Flashcards
(17 cards)
‘when i was dead, my spirit turned to seek the much frequented house’
CONTRASTS TITLE- expect it to be warmth and homely
conflicts with her religion as quite gothic feel from a ghostly perspective (less christian framing)
-HOWEVER COULD BE A REFERAL TO SOUL SLEEP
FORM AND STRUCTURE
iambic tetrameter cheery rhythm contrasts sad content
-regular rhyme scheme
-direct speech- dramatic
EFFECT OF ENJAMBMENT
enjambment creates conversational feel and natural flow, shows ease of figures in their environment
context?
inspired by a picnic excursion with her friends the scots in newcastle in the summer of 1857 WHEN SHE FELT ILL AT EASE
‘feasting beneath green and orange bough’s’
poetic repast of the sandwiches and tarts of the outing
Indulgence in lucuries creates a rich and colourful image- possibly recallspre raphelite wallpaper- image on indulgence like the pre raphelites
repeated b sounds adds a sense of excess
consistent contrast between they and i
contrast between they and i shows the speakers disconnect amongst social jollity and surroundings
From hand to hand they pushed wine
physicality of connection alienates rossetti- element of physical touch that she cannot have from her haunting
pushed the wine- religious reference to Jesus and indulgence
‘THEY SUCKED THE PULP OF PLUM AND PEACH’
excess on pleasure, repeated plosive p creates fruitful image of abundance
i listened to their honest chat
element of her awareness over theirs in a higher realm- they are oblivious to danger and sorrow and live in spontaneity
‘tommorrow shall we plod plod along the featureless sands and coasting miles and miles of sea
COLLOQUIAL LANGUAGE AND ONOMATOPOEIA
juvenile colloquial conversational style emphasises the seperateness of rossetti further
suggests a physical connection to nature that rossetti cannot have
enjambemnejt sets out idea of expansive sands and indulgence in nature
‘tomorrow shall be like today but much more sweet’
semantic feild of sweetness continues
emphasises her seperation through the idea that life goes on without her
rossetti’s ghostly presence during this is a reminderthat tomorrow mayt not be promissed- refelects on the careless nature that they live in- oblivious to danger and ignoring the state of their souls or repenting and gaining redemption (pehaps a preminition of their fate)
REPETITION OF TOMMORROW
anaphora emphasises the peak of her isolation and seperation to this idea of leisure
‘I only i passed away tomorrow and today they cried, i was of yesterday’
INSISTENCE OF i EMPHASISES SOLITUDE AND SEPERATION
PRESENT CONTRADICTS PAST SHOWING HER IMPERMENANCE
I WAS OF YESTERDAY- PERHAPS A REFERENCE TO HOW FUNERALS ONLY REMEMBER PEOPLE FOR ONE DAY
‘i SHIVERED COMFORTLESS BUT CAST NO CHILL ACROSS THE TABLECLOTH’
abundance of i in the last stanza contradicts her fading presence- draws attention to isolation
referes to the coldness of the isolation she felt
she does not transfer the coldness, she still remaians in the cold
‘passed’ repetitive in last stanza
SEMANTIC FEILD OF PASSING AWAY
perhaps links to rejection, she felt rejected even though she rejected her lovers- explains the sense of isolation that she feels
that tarrieth but a day
-SHORT LAST LINE SHOWS HER FADING AWAY, sense of impermenance alongside reference to her being a guest in the first line
BIBLICAL REFERENCE
wisdom of Solomon- REVELATION SUGGESTING THEY ARE ALL AT FAULT
who does she write as
A SPECTRE in a liminal threshhold between reality and death
