At Home by Christina Rossetti

Edexcel English Literature A Level Poetry Christina Rossetti

At Home

At Home

1858

Form

Dramatic monologue

Tone

Sombre

Symbolism of title

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

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

Past tense

‘When I was dead’

• Speaker is asserting their identity, importance of the persona- they are the topic, their life and choices

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

Link to Goblin Market- Temptation and greed as sinful

‘They sucked the pulp of plum and peach’

Plosive

‘Pulp of plum and peach’

Shows speakers dissatisfaction with the people involved

‘To seek the much-frequented house:’

• Shows distance

• No self of bel

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)

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

‘Plod Plod’

Onomatopoeia

‘Plod plod’

Contrasts monotony of previous octet, shows how temporal delights fade

‘Featureless sands’

• Barren landscape

• Exhaustion

• Journey to piety, sacrifice to God (Link to uphill)

‘Before the turn of tide’

• Reminiscent of a sermon

• Repentance

• Naivety

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

Juxtaposition

‘Tomorrow’, ‘Today’ and ‘Yesterday’

Symbolises

Assonance

• ‘Sea’

• ‘Seat’

  Free, wave like

‘Eyrie-seat’

Heaven

Trochee

‘Only, I’

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

‘I was of yesterday’

• Loss of traditionalism

• Increased knowledge of science

• Fear of enlightenment

• People questioning God

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

Semantic field of discomfort synonyms

• ‘Shivered comfortless’

• ‘Chill’

• ‘Forgotten, shivered, sad’ (asyndetic listing, further shows discomfort)

• ‘Loth’

Repetition of ‘passed’

• Euphemism for death

• Isolation

‘Tarrieth’

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

Structure

• Highly controlled

• Pattern represents Rossetti’s personal self-control and her desire to place her faith above earthly pleasure and self-indulgence

Anapest (two unstressed syllables followed by one stressed syllable)

Stanza 3, ‘Tomorrow’

Deviates from rhythm of poem

Rhythm

• Iambic tetrameter (8)

• Alternates with iambic trimeter (3)

  BUT

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