Poem Analysis for Christina Rossetti’s Sweet Death
Themes:
Death
Nature
Religion
Renewal/ rebirth
Afterlife
Summary:
o The personal persona ostensibly ponders the death and decay of nature once
witnessed in a churchyard, yet this can also be interpreted as Rossetti’s wish
for death, using the flowers as an analogy.
Structure:
o The poem is structured in 3 identical lengths of stanza, birth, life, death.
o There is a cyclical structure as the 1st and 3rd stanza rhyme scheme is
identical, consisting of two sets of rhyming couplets to perhaps suggesting a
desire for the unity for God amidst the earthly restrictions.
More A* analysis on page 2!
Imagery:
She compares the ephemeral (lasting for a very short time) “fresh leaves” of flowers
leaving their “perfume” to the sky on their early deaths to the deaths of human
beings- Rossetti has always been preoccupied with the idea of death. Perhaps
perfume is a euphemism for ashes, or our soul rising up to heaven. The young
deaths of the blossoms are described as elements of blessing to the soil, as they
“nourish”, offering some “lasting value” to the green “grass”. The everlasting
Themes:
Death
Nature
Religion
Renewal/ rebirth
Afterlife
Summary:
o The personal persona ostensibly ponders the death and decay of nature once
witnessed in a churchyard, yet this can also be interpreted as Rossetti’s wish
for death, using the flowers as an analogy.
Structure:
o The poem is structured in 3 identical lengths of stanza, birth, life, death.
o There is a cyclical structure as the 1st and 3rd stanza rhyme scheme is
identical, consisting of two sets of rhyming couplets to perhaps suggesting a
desire for the unity for God amidst the earthly restrictions.
More A* analysis on page 2!
Imagery:
She compares the ephemeral (lasting for a very short time) “fresh leaves” of flowers
leaving their “perfume” to the sky on their early deaths to the deaths of human
beings- Rossetti has always been preoccupied with the idea of death. Perhaps
perfume is a euphemism for ashes, or our soul rising up to heaven. The young
deaths of the blossoms are described as elements of blessing to the soil, as they
“nourish”, offering some “lasting value” to the green “grass”. The everlasting
