Poem Analysis for Christina Rossetti’s A Triad
Three sang of love together: one with lips
Crimson, with cheeks and bosom in a glow,
Flushed to the yellow hair and finger tips;
And one there sang who soft and smooth as snow
Bloomed like a tinted hyacinth at a show;
And one was blue with famine after love,
Who like a harpstring snapped rang harsh and low
The burden of what those were singing of.
One shamed herself in love; one temperately
Grew gross in soulless love, a sluggish wife;
One famished died for love. Thus two of three
Took death for love and won him after strife;
One droned in sweetness like a fattened bee:
All on the threshold, yet all short of life.
Themes:
Worth
Women
Unfulfillment
Realism
Summary:
The poem is highly politicised and perhaps represents more of a realistic, gritty
portrayal of fallen women, or in fact Rossetti explores the universal truth that all
women are somewhat “unfulfilled”.
More A* analysis on page 2!
Three sang of love together: one with lips
Crimson, with cheeks and bosom in a glow,
Flushed to the yellow hair and finger tips;
And one there sang who soft and smooth as snow
Bloomed like a tinted hyacinth at a show;
And one was blue with famine after love,
Who like a harpstring snapped rang harsh and low
The burden of what those were singing of.
One shamed herself in love; one temperately
Grew gross in soulless love, a sluggish wife;
One famished died for love. Thus two of three
Took death for love and won him after strife;
One droned in sweetness like a fattened bee:
All on the threshold, yet all short of life.
Themes:
Worth
Women
Unfulfillment
Realism
Summary:
The poem is highly politicised and perhaps represents more of a realistic, gritty
portrayal of fallen women, or in fact Rossetti explores the universal truth that all
women are somewhat “unfulfilled”.
More A* analysis on page 2!
