At Home by Christina Rossetti

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Edexcel English Literature A Level Poetry Christina Rossetti

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28 Terms

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At Home

1858

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Form

Dramatic monologue

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Tone

Sombre

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Symbolism of title

Idea of comfort and security, the themes in the poem contradict this- shows speakers isolation

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Readings

  • A ghost looking back at their life and the people around them
  • Speaker evaluating the contrasts between the joy of others and their own ascetic life
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Past tense

‘When I was dead’

  • Speaker is asserting their identity, importance of the persona- they are the topic, their life and choices
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Link to Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood/Temporal delights

  • ‘Feasting beneath green orange-boughs’

  • ‘Wine’

  • ‘Plum and peach’

    Semantic field of wealth and frivolous items

    Shows sins associated with humanity, greed and over-indulgence

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Link to Goblin Market- Temptation and greed as sinful

‘They ^^sucked^^ the pulp of ^^plum^^ and ^^peach^^’

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Plosive

‘@@P@@ul@@p@@ of @@p@@lum and peach’

Shows speakers dissatisfaction with the people involved

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‘To seek the much-frequented house:’

  • Shows distance
  • No self of bel
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Tricolon

  • ‘They sang, they jested, and they laughed’

    Distance from ‘they’- speaker is deceased

  • ‘Said one:’…’Said one:’…’Said one:’…

    Distance between speaker and friends, reported speech- memory of them (further shown by the colon)

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Spondee (a foot consisting of two long (or stressed) syllables)

‘Plod Plod’

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Onomatopoeia

‘Plod plod’

Contrasts monotony of previous octet, shows how temporal delights fade

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‘Featureless sands’

  • Barren landscape
  • Exhaustion
  • Journey to piety, sacrifice to God (Link to uphill)
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‘Before the turn of tide’

  • Reminiscent of a sermon
  • Repentance
  • Naivety
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Repetition/ Anaphora of ‘tomorrow’

  • Emphasis on tomorrow
  • Naivety
  • Contrasts the speakers lack of a tomorrow
  • The characters are always wanting more, not appreciative of what God has given them today
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Juxtaposition

‘Tomorrow’, ‘Today’ and ‘Yesterday’

Symbolises

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Assonance

  • ‘S%%ea%%’

  • ‘S%%ea%%t’

    Free, wave like

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‘Eyrie-seat’

Heaven

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Trochee

‘Only, I’

Asserts speakers isolation through the disrupted meter (similar to spondee)

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‘I was of yesterday’

  • Loss of traditionalism
  • Increased knowledge of science
  • Fear of enlightenment
  • People questioning God
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Increased use of personal pronoun ‘I’ in last stanza

The speaker is facing difficulty retaining their character amongst all of the frivolity and indulgence of others

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Semantic field of discomfort synonyms

  • ‘Shivered comfortless’
  • ‘Chill’
  • Forgotten,shivered,sadForgotten, shivered, sad’ (asyndetic listing, further shows discomfort)
  • ‘Loth’
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Repetition of ‘passed’

  • Euphemism for death
  • Isolation
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‘Tarrieth’

Biblical form of the verb ‘tarries’ ad contrasts with the simplicity of the rest of the language in the poem

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Structure

  • Highly controlled
  • Pattern represents Rossetti’s personal self-control and her desire to place her faith above earthly pleasure and self-indulgence
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Anapest (two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable)

Stanza 3, ‘Tomorrowrow

Deviates from rhythm of poem

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Rhythm

  • Iambic tetrameter (8)

  • Alternates with iambic trimeter (3)

    BUT

  • Rhythm is disrupted by ANAPEST, TROCHEE and SPONDEE when new emotions are brought up