MAIN Cousin Kate (quotes/context)

“Why did a great lord find me out” (mentioned twice)

repetition and rhetorical questions.

“find me out” contributes to extended metaphor of the lord as predatory.

“shameless shameful life,”

oxymoron, sibilance. represents her conflicted feelings for the relationship she had with the lord because she knows it’s wrong but is persuaded by the predatory lord. regretful and looking down on the relationship.

“good and pure” (repeated) “outcast thing”

juxtaposition comparing the cousin and narrator. She is suggesting the only difference is that Cousin Kate is married.   “thing” dehumanising. All about Cousin Kate’s good reputation compared to the truth and reality - it’s what the “neighbours” say.

repetition of “good and pure” shows envy and mockery too. As if Cousin Kate is too good when in reality she is no different to the narrator.

throughout the poem oxymorons and juxtapositions are used to contrast the narrator and her cousin.

“O Cousin Kate, my love was true,”

The form of the poem is ballad(traditional love story) but the true love spoken about in the poem is the love between the narrator and the cousin. and the betrayal. The fallen woman (narrator) is the one who truly loved her cousin (and the lord) but neither of them truly loved the narrator. She feels betrayed.

“My fair-haired son, my shame, my pride”

In the final stanza there is a volta from her hurt and anger to spite and pride.

repetition of possessive pronoun “my” which shows how strongly she feels that she has something over them and how crucial it is.

Juxtaposition of “shame” and “pride”. pride is said last because it is more important than the shame.

Rossetti context

1830 - 1894

pre Raphaelite

Victorian

outspoken on her modern views on gender

early feminist

volunteered in a fallen women home

fallen women context

Victorian women were meant to be quiet, follow the orders of men and be chaste(no sex until marriage)

women had no rights

Language

• ballad

• plosive sounds

• sibilance

• juxtapositions

• predatory language

• Semantic field of purity and innocence

“He wore me like a golden knot”

“he changed me like a glove”

• dehumanizing

• alluding to the fact that she was used for sex(forward thinking of Rossetti)

• contrasting similes - when he was with her and when he got rid of her