Rossetti – Up Hill
Initial Responses Development of ideas and interpretations
(red)
Meaning / Ideas / Themes constructed and explored by Meaning / Ideas / Themes constructed and
the poet explored by the poet
- poem gently highlights her struggle to maintain - symbolic of the struggle between faith
devotion and religious commitment and doubt within a life of devotion
- ‘Up-Hill’- suggestion of a struggle - continually questioning how long the
journey will last, whether she will make
- the speaker seeks reassurance/ solace/ comfort it, whether it will be worth it
- ‘other wayfarers’- perhaps suggesting other family - differing interpretations:
members- Rossetti experienced great loss in her life
- the poem symbolises the journey from
- the difficult journey will ultimately lead to salvation life to death → darkening sky
- allegory/ extended metaphor comparing life to ‘a foreshadows the end of life, and the inn
journey’ and death to ‘a resting place’ represents the final resting place (could
be interpreted as Heaven), the act of
knocking on the door as symbolic of
Christian confession of sin and the need
for forgiveness before admittance to
Heaven
- road represents the journey of life-
speaker questions whether life will
become easier as she grows older→
guide reveals that the road remains up-
hill and arduous (this interp does not
resolve the symbolism behind the inn)
- [less likely reading due to Rossetti’s
religiosity]- the journey as representative
of Christian purgatory; the inn=
representative of Heaven
Use of form Use of form
- iambic rhythm- walking pace, regularity, idea of
walking through life
- regularity of the structure- 4X quatrains-
monotonous, laborious nature of the journey through
life towards salvation
- ABAB rhyme scheme
Use of structural devices (include key terms) Use of structural devices
- conversation/ dialogue- Q= speaker/persona- tone of - questions answered by her internal faith?
doubt (could be Rossetti), A= God, religious figure,
Initial Responses Development of ideas and interpretations
(red)
Meaning / Ideas / Themes constructed and explored by Meaning / Ideas / Themes constructed and
the poet explored by the poet
- poem gently highlights her struggle to maintain - symbolic of the struggle between faith
devotion and religious commitment and doubt within a life of devotion
- ‘Up-Hill’- suggestion of a struggle - continually questioning how long the
journey will last, whether she will make
- the speaker seeks reassurance/ solace/ comfort it, whether it will be worth it
- ‘other wayfarers’- perhaps suggesting other family - differing interpretations:
members- Rossetti experienced great loss in her life
- the poem symbolises the journey from
- the difficult journey will ultimately lead to salvation life to death → darkening sky
- allegory/ extended metaphor comparing life to ‘a foreshadows the end of life, and the inn
journey’ and death to ‘a resting place’ represents the final resting place (could
be interpreted as Heaven), the act of
knocking on the door as symbolic of
Christian confession of sin and the need
for forgiveness before admittance to
Heaven
- road represents the journey of life-
speaker questions whether life will
become easier as she grows older→
guide reveals that the road remains up-
hill and arduous (this interp does not
resolve the symbolism behind the inn)
- [less likely reading due to Rossetti’s
religiosity]- the journey as representative
of Christian purgatory; the inn=
representative of Heaven
Use of form Use of form
- iambic rhythm- walking pace, regularity, idea of
walking through life
- regularity of the structure- 4X quatrains-
monotonous, laborious nature of the journey through
life towards salvation
- ABAB rhyme scheme
Use of structural devices (include key terms) Use of structural devices
- conversation/ dialogue- Q= speaker/persona- tone of - questions answered by her internal faith?
doubt (could be Rossetti), A= God, religious figure,
