Christina Rossetti 1830-1894 - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Christina Rossetti 1830-1894

Twice

Slide2

Title (date)

Twice

I took my heart in my hand

(O my love, O my love),

I said: Let me fall or stand,

Let me live or die,

But this once hear me speak-

(O my love, O my love)-

Yet a woman's words are weak;

You should speak, not I.

You took my heart in your hand

With a friendly smile,

With a critical eye you scanned,

Then set it down,

And said: It is still unripe,

Better wait a while;

Wait while the skylarks pipe,

Till the corn grows brown

As you set it down it broke-

Broke, but I did not wince;

I smiled at the speech you spoke,

At your judgment that I heard:

But I have not often smiled

Since then, nor questioned since,

Nor cared for corn-flowers wild,

Nor sung with the singing bird.

I take my heart in my hand,

O my God, O my God,

My broken heart in my hand:

Thou hast seen, judge Thou

My hope was written on sand,

O my God, O my God:

Now let Thy judgment stand-

Yea, judge me now

This contemned of a man,

This marred one heedless day,

This heart take Thou to scan

Both within and without:

Refine with fire its gold,

Purge Thou its dross away-

Yea, hold it in Thy hold,

Whence none can pluck it out.

I take my heart in my hand-

I shall not die, but live-

Before Thy face I stand;

I, for Thou

callest

such:

All that I have I bring,

All that I am I give,

Smile Thou and I shall sing,

But shall not question much.Slide3

Important questions to ask while reading poetry

1. Who is the speaker in the poem? Self-explanatory, but of paramount importance. Who is doing the

talking? Is it the poet, or is it a created persona? Never assume it’s the poet.

2. What is the theme of the poem? That is, what is the poem talking about anyway? We’re talking about big ideas here- issues that the poem addresses, not just “what happens.”

3. What is the tone of the poem? That is, what seems to be the speaker’s attitude toward the theme? What seems to be the poet’s attitude toward the theme? Toward the speaker?

4. What is important about the diction of the poem? That is, what kind of language does the poet choose? why does she choose this particular kind of language? How does this language relate to the theme, help us understand tone, etc…?

5. What image or images does the poem contain? Does the poem appeal to any of your senses? How? What sort of feelings are these sensory images meant to evoke?

6. What metaphors appear in the poem? How are they used? What do they represent? How do they relate to theme and tone?

7. What is important about the structure of the poem? That is, is there rhyme? Why? What type of rhythm is used? Why? Is there anything unusual about the way the poem is presented physically on the page? Why?

8. How can I respond personally to the poem? That is, what is it about this poem speaks to me? How does this personal response help my understanding and appreciation of the poem?

9. How may of the context in which the poem was written influenced the meaning?

NONE OF THESE QUESTIONS ARE MEANT TO BE CONSIDERED IN ISOLATION. IN A WELL-CONSTRUCTED POEM, THESE ELEMENTS WILL WORK TOGETHER TO CREATE MEANING AND EFFECT. Slide4

Group Task on Imagery & symbolism

5 groups each make notes using the ideas card – see PPMarket place to find other information

The Heart

Refinement

Skylarks

The

corn and the corn-flowers 

-

Sand Slide5

Test!!!!!

Investigating imagery and symbolism

Note down the various ways in which the speaker describes her heart

What surprises you about the way in which it is described?

Why do you think that she chooses to speak of her heart in this way?

What do you associate with the idea of scanning something?

How are these associations met in the description of the beloved?

How are these associations met in God ‘scanning' the speaker's heart? (lines 11, 35).

What differences does the speaker suggest exist between the way that the beloved scans the heart and the way that God scans it?Slide6

Title (date)

All that I have I bring,

All that I am I give (lines 45-6

)

These words echo the vows made at a wedding when a ring is

exchanged

Liturgy

The solemnisation of

matrimony:The

exchange of rings

Religious language and allusions Slide7

Title (date)

The speaker suggests that surrendering all she has and all she is to God is the only way in which she can ‘live' rather than ‘die' (line 42). This belief is rooted in the 

Bible

 teaching, that the process of entering the new life offered by Jesus entails ‘dying' to the old way of living

:

We were therefore, buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 

Romans 6:4

 TNIVSlide8

Title (date)

The refinement with fire that the speaker endures alludes to an image frequently used in the Bible that God uses suffering to purify believers (

Isaiah 48: 10

, 

Daniel 11:35

).

Daniel 11:35

35

And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed.Slide9

Title (date)

Investigating language and

tone

Why do you think that the speaker ‘smiled' at the speech that her beloved gave her even though it hurt her so much (line 19)?

Why do you think she calls his rejection a ‘speech'?

At the end of the poem, the speaker declares that she ‘shall not question much' (line 48). Why do you think that she says this?

What negative associations does she have with the idea of questioning?

Where do you think these associations have come from?Slide10

Themes

Judgement

Throughout the final few verses of 

Twice

, the speaker anticipates the coming judgement of God. Wanting to prepare herself for this judgement, she suggests that God ‘scan' her heart (line 35) now and ‘purge' it from any ‘dross' or worthless matter (line 38).

Christian

s believe that after death / upon the return of 

Christ

 to the world, every human life will be brought to a final account by God (

Matthew 12:36-37

), with Jesus as the judge (

Matthew 13:36-43

). All lives will be exposed and those who have not responded to the revealed will of God will be shut out from his presence for good, whilst believers will be welcomed into his presence forever (

Revelation 22:14-15

).

By moving from a consideration of the ‘judgement' that her beloved declares over her (line 20) to the judgement that God will one day give, the speaker emphasises her realisation that it is God who she wants to please rather than a man. She suggests that, although being prepared for the Day of Judgement may be difficult and presents various trials, it will be ultimately worth it as it will mean that one day she will be able to ‘sing' (line 47) and regain a sense of joy.Slide11

Title (date)

Structure

*How does the rhyme scheme alter in stanza 4?

*What does this tell us about the speakers feelings?Slide12

Investigating structure and

versification

Try reading the phrases ‘O my love' and ‘O my God' aloud repeatedly, changing the syllable you stress each time. Which sounds the most appropriate?

Why do you think that this is?

Mark out the stresses in the second verse

How do you think the rhythmic pattern of the verse reflects the emotions of the speaker?

Is there anything surprising you can identify in the verse?Slide13

I took my heart in my hand

(O my love, O my love),

I said: Let me fall or stand,

Let me live or die,

But this once hear me speak-

(O my love, O my love)-

Yet a woman's words are weak

;

You should speak, not I

.Slide14

Metre

The 

metre

 of the poem often draws attention to certain sounds which, in turn, reflect particular feelings and emotions. For instance, the O sound is stressed in the first two lines to emphasise the speaker's sense of loss and emptiness:

I took my heart in my hand

  (O my love, O my love) (lines 1-2)

Comprised of two 

iambic feet

 followed by an 

anapaest

, the rhythmic stresses in the first line all fall on 

vowel

 sounds. The rising rhythm of both the iamb and the anapaest means that the poem introduces a note of speed from the dramatic opening.

An 

amphimacer

 is the poetic term for a three-

syllable

 foot arranged with a stress at each end. If the exclamation ‘O' is to be read as a stressed syllable, then the phrase, ‘O my love' could arguably be described as an amphimacer.

Occasional

spondees

convey the speaker's strong feelings:

‘But 

this once

hear

 me 

speak

'

‘

Thou

 hast 

seen

, 

judge thou

'

‘

Smile thou

 and 

I

 shall 

sing'

A one stressed and one unstressed syllable.

A metre in poetry, each foot consisting of two unstressed syllables, followed by a stressed syllable. A rising metre, like the iambic.

The poetic term for a three-syllable foot arranged with a stress at each end.

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