Consider The Ways In Which The Theme

Of Past Regret Or Missed Opportunity Is Explored In Two Or Three Of Christina Rossetti’s Poems Essay, Research Paper

Consider the ways in which the theme of past regret or missed opportunity is explored in two or three of Christina Rossetti?s poems

In ?A Summer Wish?, Christina Rossetti seems to be giving a message to the readers that you should live your life now and enjoy it while you can. The word ?Oh? in the poem comes up two times. This can reinforce how she could have been feeling. She seems to be saying ?if only?? and ?I wish?? a lot of the times. This gives me the feeling of her past regret.

The purpose of the flower ?Rose? gives the idea of her delight. But there are two sides to a rose flower. The rose petals are beautiful, but beneath the flower, comes the stem, with the thorns on it. This gives a message of difficulty. Maybe this could be a feeling of unfinished business that she never got finished.

In ?An Apple Gathering?, this shows the dark forces of temptation. It gives the idea of doing something you are not really ready to do. In this poem, it could mean that if you pick a flower from apple tree, then an apple will not develop. However, it has an extra meaning when the picked flower was used to make the girl look more attractive. Her ?goods? have been taken too soon, and so this gives the idea that she might have grown up too fast.

By the end of the poem it seems that the end of the day is drawing in too fast. The time has gone too quick. The word in the last stanza, ?loiter? means to wait for nothing. This could be how Christina Rossetti felt about any missed opportunities because she waited around for nothing.

In ?Another Spring?, the past and ?ifs? is repeated. Rather then planting seeds, the girl in the poem would plant the full grown flowers instead of having to wait for them to grow. The first stanza gives us the impression that she doesn?t think that she will be around next spring.

?If I might see another spring?

This line is repeated three times at the start of each stanza. The first stanza uses flowers as an example and the second stanza uses birds.

The ?snowdrop? flower symbolises hope. These usually grow in snowy condition when most flowers are dying or dead because of the frost and cold. The other flower spoken about was a violet. These are blue and symbolise honesty and maybe faithfulness. Perhaps she didn?t make the most of her youth. She grew up too soon. This gives another image of her planting the flowers straight in, in full bloom. She had no chance to see them grow, like herself.

The second stanza uses birds and there are daylight birds which are usually coupling birds. She might not have had the love she wanted. Perhaps she didn?t have any good, loving relationships. She seems to be saying that we should all make the most of our time.

In the last stanza, it seems like she is telling herself off. She has her past regret and she regrets for having them. In this stanza she uses ?to-day? four times and she could be saying that today is more important than tomorrow or yesterday.

All of the three poems I have spoken about seem very morbid and negative. Everyone will have past regrets or even missed opportunities but most people would see the positive side to their life. Christina Rossetti seems to concentrate on the negative, and not much on her positive side. It seems a lot easier for her to deal with the past, rather than look to the future.

?If? is the main culprit of regret in her three poems and that gives a bad vibe about Rossetti. I would think that she could have been a moody, not very jolly person, through the way in which she portrays the narrator in the poems.