Twice (Rossetti)

Final 3 Stanzas:

• The narrator has 'her' heart broken by a character in the poem.
• She then devotes her love to God instead.
• There is a repition of "O my God", which replaces "Oh my Love"

The idea of rejection:

• Reactions:
• Isolation,
• Lashing out,
• Lose confidence,
• Move on,
• Turn to someone else for support,
• Unmovitated,
• Disheartened,
• Self-judgement,
• Trying to improve/better yourself.

Narrator/persona has experienced romantic rejection.

Twice has parralleism. The first line of the stanzas mirrors eachother. Eg. "I TOOK my heart in my hand", "You took my heart in my hand" and "I take my heart in my hand".

COMPARISONS OF "TWICE":

•  Shut Out - The idea of the narrator being rejected.
• Maude Clare - A form of romantic rejection but contrasts with the reaction to the romantic rejection.
• No, Thank you, John. - Idea of male dominance and being in control of the relationship. Romantic rejection, but contrasts with the attitudes of the narrator.
• Song (When I am dead my dearest) - Religious imagery/ideology, same tone of confiedence and inner strength.
• Echo - Repitition and impossiblity of moving on. Contrasts because in Twice she turns to God.

Rossetti: Echo.

Echo:

Narrative: Mourning a death? - a child? - a lover?
                  "soft rounded cheeks" "whose awakening should have been in paradise"

Language: Repitition in all stanzas.
                  Rhyme Scheme: ABABCC.

Not a narrative poem as such, more a poem that is telling emotions.
-A lyric poem.



Language Analysis:

STANZA 1: 

• Imperative of "come" - not commanding but more of a pleading tone. Sets the tone of desperation and longing.
• Repititon of "come" - shows speaker is persistent and again emphasises her desperation and pleads. A soothing, constant.
• Smilie (figurative language) - creates a clear image of the contrast of the "sunlight on a stream" The sunglight on a stream gives it a figurative comparison to nature - Romantic Poets influence.
• Triplet - Abstract nouns which mirror the title as they are echoes. "Memory, hope, love" - addressing her lover, represents her lover.
• Sibilance - "sound" sensual.
• Alliteration
• Oxymoron - "speaking silence"
• "Come back in tears" - ambiguity.

STANZA 2:

• Repititon of "sweet" - oxymoron of "bittersweet", growing madness, nostalgia.
• "Paradise" - capitalised, heaven?
• wants to meet in heaven- ambiguity- who is dead, if anyone?
• "Thirsting, longing eyes" - reinforces pleading tone.
• "lets out no more" - A dark undertone to being in heaven. In heaven, waiting for their lover, isnt an idyllic state. Person who is alive, calling for their dead lover.
• Water imagery - again, Romantic poets infulence on Rossetti.

STANZA 3:

• Lyrical - traditional to be set to music.
• "My very life again tho' cold in death" - wantes to relive their life, an echo of it. Literal meaning and figurative as she thinks she is "cold in death" without her lover.
• Structure/layout -reinfoces an echo on the page.
• "Pulse for pulse, breath for breath" - Speaker dies instead of lover? Closeness of loves? Rhythm is like a pulse/breath. Ambiguous.
• "As long ago, so long ago" - literally long ago- poignant or feels so long ago.
• Complex punctuation - syntax. Slows down the poem, each stanza is a sentance.

Comparisons:
1) Song is a lyric poem and refers to a period after death and a lover dying. However, it is clear it is her own death she is referrring to in Song.
2) Remember is also a lyric poem and has the same quiet, persuasive tone.
3) Shut Out addresses the concept and feelings of 'distance', both figuratively and literally, also.

Linking form to effect

Form: How the writer writes.
Effect: How the reader responds/why the writer did that.

• Highlights...
• Foregrounds..
• Draws attention to...
• Suggests...
• Emphasises...
• Implies...

When Rossetti says "sing no sad songs for me" she is highlighting her views of the values of mourning in the Victorian Era. Rossetti uses an imperative to emphasise the calm yet commanding tone of her poem and to highlight her acceptance of death.

Rossetti's first person narrative uses the adjective "shady" to draw attention to how the narrator doesn't want to be protected after death.

The poet uses the term of address, "my dearest" which highlights the poet's love for the recipient and that he/she is her main concern after death.

The first two feet of the poem are iams, and the third is an amphibrach. This perhaps draws attention to "I", "dead" and "dearest", which are significant words in the poem regarding the topic and purpose.

Remember: -Repitition of the poem= persuasive tone
                    -Rhyming scheme=persuasive tone (quietly confident)

Song & Remember comparison:

-Both poems begin with a request for someone who is left behind, she asks the person not to forget her when she dies.
-To prove her love for the one left behind, the speaker wants the other one to go on with their life. All she asks is that the listener remembers her, the person, and not any negative connotations.

Poem Analysis: "Song (When I am dead, my dearest)"