Memory

Question 1

Memory structure

Answer 1

In part 1 the stanzas seem to follow an interlocking ABAB rhyme scheme, perhaps the solitary nature of ‘AB’ evokes a sense of the complete lack of unity Rossetti may have derived from ‘earthly love’.

Contrastingly the rhyme scheme shifts in part 2, following an ABBA rhyme scheme, the pairing of the ‘BB’ rhymes perhaps reflecting a greater unity through spiritual love and devotion, indicating the immense satisfaction Rossetti gained through religiosity compared to conventional earthly love & marriage.

Question 2

Memory: SF of death in stanza
1. I j I s a, e s I g’
2. ‘l i c’
3. ‘M h d i b i’

Answer 2

1. In joy I sat alone, even so I grieved’
   Establishes the notion of abandoning debilitating earthly love as wholly beneficial to the speaker yet ultimately still engendering some significant emotional turmoil. => Although God’s love & unity with him is highly demanding, ultimately it is the best course of action in order to gain fulfilment.
2. ‘laid it cold’: personification of ‘love’ and ‘desire’ as lifeless corpses to be laid to eternal rest. ‘Cold’ not only conjures n image of total lifelessness but also a complete lack of warmth & passion, revealing teh speaker’s detachment from passionate and potentially lusty relationships, instead prioritising the calming & fortifying religious love.
3. ‘My heart dies inch by inch’: Gradual biological decay reveals the toll of casting off earthly love in favour of God. Although this rejection of earthly love clearly causes great physical and perhaps emotional damage for the speaker they gladly accept this as a mere instance of pain that can be remedied by pursuing spiritual unity with God.

Question 3

Memory: Love portrayed as a false idol in contrast to the fulfilling nature of spirituality
1. ‘I t t p b a w…B s m m c.’
2. ‘B m h/B m i’
3. ‘I bi a a b, I l i c’
4. ‘O b y n d, b w f I n m b m h/O b m k t’
5. ‘I w t w c e/A t h i w b i P/W w t’.

Answer 3

1. I took the perfect balances and weighed…But silent made my choice’: emphasis of ‘perfect balances’ indicates that they are to be entirely trusted as they are accurate. Metaphorical ‘weighing’ of her two options of either pursuing earthly love or devoting herself entirely to religiosity.
2. ‘broke my heart/Breaking my idol’: Repetition of ‘break’ reinforces the shattering effect that the pursuit of religion
3. ‘I broke it at a blow, I laid it cold’: deliberate inflicting of violence as a means to
4. ‘One buried yet not dead, before whose face I no more bow my head/Or bend my knee there’: the idea of a hidden priority or quashed desire through ‘burial’ suggests that whilst the speaker has mostly abandoned love, attempting to prioritise religious devotion above all else, the fact that this nameless ‘one’ is ‘not yet dead’ suggests a potential reuniting of the speaker with ‘love’. The negation of submissive or devotional images through the physical demonstrations of subservience ‘bow my head or bend my knee’ reflects a rejection of Victorian ideals of marriage in which women were expected to acquiesce to male desires & limit their own autonomy in favour of the speaker devoting their life to God himself and the worship of a spiritually fulfilling presence.
   => utter distaste for marital relations which would’ve compromised the mobility & autonomy of the feminine.
5. ‘I watch there with clear eyes/And think how it will be in Paradise/When we’re together.’ The complete lack of visual obscurity in favour of visual clarity reflects how a rejection of earthly love prospects provides the speaker with a completely renewed outlook on life. They are now able to clearly visualise a hopeful future in which they achieve great spiritual unity ‘in Paradise/When we’re together’. This cheerful visualisation of an almost marital union perhaps indicates the speaker’s own marital pledge to God which will act as a ‘Paradise’ state of living, far less debilitating that the experience of earthly love illustrated in stanza 1.