MY PRETTY ROSE TREE

Question 1

What is the poem about?

Answer 1

• The narrator is offered a flower
• He rejects it because he already has a rose tree,
• But his rose tree turns away in jealousy and only gives him, her thorns.

Question 2

Describe the structure of the poem

Answer 2

• 2 quatrains
• ABAB/ ACAC rhyme scheme (predicatable, routine signifying the speakers comfort in his relationship)
• Alternating rhyme scheme (structurally seperates his existing relationships with the flower)
• A and B rhymes reliably repeat (he will always return to his love)
• The painful subject pattern contrats with the lilting quality of the verse (distortion of the world of experience)

Question 3

What is Sweden-borg-gianism?

Answer 3

• A religious movement inspired by the teachings of the Swedish theologian Emanuel Swedenborg.
• In his code of sexual morality he allows mistress keeping if the man is not satisfied with their wives.