1. Christina Rossetti – Lesson 12 LQ: Can I understand the relevance of a female voice? Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet

2. LESSON 4: LQ: Can I understand the Spenserian Sonnet structure and use my understanding to analyse the presentation of love in two Sonnets by Spenser? Excellent progress: well-chosen quotations, literary devices analysed, effect on reader discussed, alternative interpretations considered and social context mentioned Outstanding progress: well-chosen quotations, sophisticated language used, literary devices analysed, effect on reader argued with perceptive points made, alternative interpretations revealed, developed consideration of social and historical context Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet Christina Rossetti – Lesson 16 LQ: Can I understand the relevance of a female voice?

3. How is Christina Rossetti different to the poets we have already read? (Just from her name…) Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet Why do you think this has taken so long?

4. Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet Christina Rossetti (1830 – 1894) was an English poet. Rossetti’s first volume, Goblin Market and Other Poems was published in 1862: It was divided into two sections, devotional (religious) and non-devotional poetry. Her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti illustrated it This collection secured Christina Rossetti’s reputation

5. Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was not dogmatic, but they did define their doctrines. They declared that Pre-Raphaelite artists must: 1) Have genuine ideas to express, 2) Study nature attentively, so as to know how to express it, 3) Sympathize with what is direct and serious and heartfelt in previous art, to the exclusion of what is conventional and self-parodying and learned by rote. 4) Most indispensable of all, to produce thoroughly good pictures and statues. Although the Pre-Raphaelite Movement was primarily centered around the visual arts, Christina Rossetti's poetry belongs to the literary branch of the Pre-Raphaelite aesthetic. Her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, illustrated some of her poems in the Pre-Raphaelite style, including "Goblin Market." Additionally, Christina modeled for her brother's painting "The Girlhood of the Virgin Mary," which was one of the first paintings to bear the signature "PRB" - the Brotherhood's hallmark. Influenced by her brother's leadership in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Christina Rossetti's poetry adheres to the ideals of the movement. While abundantly rich in detail, her poetry strives for clarity in meaning through its relatively simple rhyme schemes and language. Like the Pre-Raphaelites, she draws from literary sources of the past.

6. Although Rossetti's popularity during her lifetime did not approach that of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, her standing remained strong after her death. In the early 20th century Rossetti's popularity faded in the wake of Modernism. Scholars began to explore Freudian themes in her work, such as religious and sexual repression, reaching for personal, biographical interpretations of her poetry. In the 1970s academics began to critique her work again, looking beyond the lyrical Romantic sweetness to her mastery of prosody and versification. Feminists held her as symbol of constrained female genius, placed as a leader of 19th-century poets Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet Prosody: the patterns of rhythm and sound used in poetry

7. During Christina Rossetti's lifetime, Britain underwent changes that transformed the lives of its people: - The population grew enormously, from around 12 million at the time of Rossetti's birth in 1830, to around 30 million at the time of her death in 1894 - Living in London, Rossetti would have been affected by the growth of the cities, as more and more people moved away from the countryside and found jobs in the commercial and financial sector - The rail network, begun in the 1830s and largely completed by the 1870s, had a great effect not only on the accessibility of travel and speed of movement, but also on the appearance of the countryside. It also brought many visitors to London on day-trips and enabled many to leave the city for short breaks and holidays - British manufacturing became dominant in the world so trade and the financial sector also grew significantly - British power and influence overseas expanded. Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet

8. In the second half of the nineteenth century, campaigns to give women parliamentary representation as individuals gained popularity. Since some women were now given an education and were beginning to establish themselves in roles previously reserved solely for men, many believed that they were entitled to the same rights as their husbands, brothers and fathers. The poet Augusta Webster wrote to Rossetti in the late 1870s asking for her support in a campaign she was involved with, which aimed to give women the right to vote. However, Rossetti refused. In her letter of response, she asked, “Does it not appear as if the Bible was based upon an understood unalterable distinction between men and women, their position, duties, privileges?” In her mind, this ‘unalterable distinction' was made with Eve and continued throughout the Bible. To Rossetti, men and women were created by God as fundamentally different creatures. Because of their fundamental differences, Rossetti believed that men and women should have different responsibilities and rights. Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet

9. Read Remember Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet Do you consider Remember to be a love poem? What different emotions does it express? What indications of comfort do you find in the poem? Is there anything you find disturbing or unexpected on a first reading of the poem? In his 1881 sonnet sequence, Dante Gabriel Rossetti calls the sonnet a ‘moment's monument'. How can this be seen here?

10. In pairs, look at - the volta - repetition - tone -metre -rhyme Excellent progress: well- chosen quotations, literary devices analysed, effect on reader discussed, alternative interpretations considered and social context mentioned Outstanding progress: well- chosen quotations, sophisticated language used, literary devices analysed, effect on reader argued with perceptive points made, alternative interpretations revealed, developed consideration of social and historical context Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet More on the volta: A volta is a term that is used to describe the shift in ideas as a sonnet moves from the octave to the sestet. Often, the six line sestet presents an answer or a solution to the problem outlined in the eight line octave.

11. Language: The term ‘remember' runs, like a refrain, throughout the sonnet. However, its power seems to decrease through the poem, rather as if the voice and memory of the speaker is fading from life: The first two imperative verbs are placed at the start rather than the end of the first and fifth lines In the middle of the seventh, the strength of the request is modified by the word ‘Only' on its third appearance It is further qualified in adverbial sub-clauses by ‘And afterwards' and ‘Better.. you / Than.. you' in the sestet, losing its association with ‘me'. Further repetition with variation is seen in: ‘gone away / Gone far away', which reinforces the distance that is growing between the speaker and her lover and emphasises the boundary that exists between life and death ‘if you should forget / Better … you should forget', which turns the possibility of forgetfulness into an imperative. Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet

12. Tone: The voice of the speaker is controlled but increasingly tentative, revealing as well as concealing meaning. The certainties of being able to remain with the beloved (l.4), of audible advice and prayer (l.8) are replaced by vestiges of memory amidst increasing forgetfulness. The speaker even changes the message s/he wants to give to the beloved. The command to remember is replaced by the suggestion s/he is happy for the beloved to forget. Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet

13. The Volta In line 9, the volta (or turning point of the Petrarchan sonnet), the speaker's tone changes. Turning from the instruction to remember, s/he suddenly chooses to accept that s/he may be forgotten and declares that it would be far better that the beloved forgot and was happy than remembered and was sad. At the same time, the assumed happy past of the lovers is perhaps shaken by the idea that the thoughts the speaker ‘once... had' should be forgotten because they were not entirely positive. Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet

14. Metre Metre The traditional metre of a sonnet is iambic pentameter. Used here, the regularity of the iambic beat reinforces the sense of control the speaker attempts to establish over the matter of death and the beloved's reaction to this, something s/he suggests s/he has little control over. The inversion of the first foot in l. 2, 7 and 13 hints at the passion which is fighting for expression. However, the strict pentameter lines convey the enclosure and restraint of the speaker as s/he suggests that s/he has more to express but cannot find the appropriate words in which to do so. The iamb is a rising foot and its consistent use emphasises the progressive movement of the speaker's thoughts as s/he comes to a realisation that s/he may be forgotten. Throughout Remember, Rossetti combines the repetition of words with the effect of the metre to highlight several important movements. For instance, whereas the pronoun ‘I' is stressed twice in the octave (lines 1, 3), it remains unstressed in the sestet and the word ‘had' is stressed in its place, highlighting the passing of a particular identity (line 12). Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet

15. Rhyme The rhyme scheme of the octave consists of two enclosed quatrains: abba, abba. The enclosure of the rhyme scheme reflects the retention of a person's ‘thoughts' that the speaker describes as existing in the memory of the beloved. The rhyme scheme of the sestet runs cddece. By beginning with a cdd rhyme and then breaking into a different pattern, it emphases the shift of the speaker's thoughts. The disruption of the expected pattern may also hint at the intrusion of uncomfortable ‘thoughts' of the speaker (proceeding from a ‘dark' place), the memory of which would sadden the beloved. Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet

16. Can you offer any alternative interpretations on the poem based on what you know about Rossetti? Excellent progress: well- chosen quotations, literary devices analysed, effect on reader discussed, alternative interpretations considered and social context mentioned Outstanding progress: well- chosen quotations, sophisticated language used, literary devices analysed, effect on reader argued with perceptive points made, alternative interpretations revealed, developed consideration of social and historical context Love: platonic, courtly, unrequited, godly, familial Social Context: Renaissance, ballad, Tudors, Puritans, Humanism LIT TERMS: pentameter, free verse, alliteration, sexual language, Spenserian sonnet, rhyme scheme, couplet