THE WOODSPURGEDante Gabriel Rosetti

L/O

To learn how analyse the structure of a poem and be able to comment on the effect that it has on the reader.

ABOUT THE POET...• Born in London on May 12, 1828 to

an English mother and Italian father.

• Rossetti demonstrated literary and artistic talent and aspirations. One family legend has it that in 1834 a local milkman was amazed as he watched six-year old Gabriel creating a drawing of a rocking horse.

• His growing interest in and talent for poetry sometimes left him indecisive over which path to follow -- was he mainly a poet or a painter?

BRIEF INTRODUCTION - “THE WOODSPURGE”

- sixteen-line poem - four-line stanzas -iambic tetrameter

In his depressed state, the narrator has an intense, visual experience of the woodspurge, (a species of weed that has a three-part blossom.)

Why do you think the narrator is grief-stricken?

Iambic – da dumTetrameter – x4

Although the cause of the narrator’s sorrow is never specified, the poem was written in the spring of 1856 when Rossetti was in an anguished state.

He was experiencing intense strife with Elizabeth (“Lizzie”) Siddal, the chief model he had used for many of his paintings since 1850, over the issue of her desire for marriage. (He eventually married her in 1860.)

Rossetti was also tormented at that time about relationships with other women.

Context

STANZA 1

The poem’s first stanza presents a countryside that is geographically unspecified—an area of trees and hills—and begins to suggest the narrator’s state of mind.

The narrator is not walking toward a specific destination; he moves in the direction the wind is blowing, and, once the wind ceases, he stops and sits in the grass.

The fact that his walking and stopping are guided merely by the wind indicates aimlessness, passivity, and apathy.

STANZA 2 The narrator’s posture in the second stanza indicates

that he feels exceedingly depressed, although there is no explanation given for his emotional state. Sitting on the grass he is hunched over with his head between his knees. His depression is so severe that he cannot even groan aloud or speak a word of grief.

What quote can be used to justify this point?

His head is cast down, as is his soul—so much so that his hair is touching the grass. His physical state reflects his psychic paralysis as he remains motionless in this position for an unspecified length of time, but long enough so that he “hear[s] the day pass.”

STANZA 3

Although he is not trying to look around and seems oblivious to the country setting as a whole, the narrator remarks in the third stanza that his eyes are “wide open,” and this important fact becomes the inadvertent cause for his ensuing visual experience.

From his seated position, he says there are “ten weeds” that his eyes can “fix upon.” Out of that group, a flowering woodspurge captures his complete attention, and he is dramatically impressed by the detail that it flowers as “three cups in one.”

FINAL STANZA The narrator attributes his depressed state to

“perfect grief” in the final stanza, but there is still no elaboration as to its cause.

He then comments, first, that grief may not function to bring wisdom or insight and may not even be remembered, and, second, implies that he himself learned nothing from his grief that day and can no longer remember its cause.

However, “One thing then learnt remains”: He had been visually overwhelmed by the shape of the woodspurge, and, consequently, its image and the fact that “The woodspurge has a cup of three” have been vividly burned into his memory forever.

Brainstorm as many techniques you can findwithin this poem with evidence!

You have 5 minutes, the highest scorer will gain

5 merits!

Over to you

The Woodspurge

ImageryThe tree, hill, grass, weeds, and sun. The images are simple with very little description. It is only when the narrator accidentally fixes his gaze upon the woodspurge that any specific details come forth.

Theme Nature Rossetti’s

unadorned presentation of nature mutes the setting,

forcing it into the background, and causes the narrator’s mental and emotional state to emerge

as the central focus.

Connotation/ToneNegative His reference in the first stanza to the wind having been “Shaken out dead from tree and hill” introduces the thought of death, establishing a negative tone that suggests that the narrator’s internal state is negative.

ToneNegative His

reference in the first stanza to the wind

having been “Shaken out dead from tree and

hill” introduces the thought of death,

establishing a negative tone that suggests that

the narrator’s internal state is negative.

Repetition“Wind,” “Still” This

deliberate repetition of words and of simple

rhymes also functions to maintain the simplicity of

the poem and is consistent with its simple imagery and

vocabulary.

Rhythm Monosyllables functions

to express sadness or sorrow. All but one word in

the first stanza are monosyllables, causing the

movement to be slowed. This consistently slowed

rhythm mirrors the narrator’s mood.

Look for 3 different images and describe them in 5 lines each.

Imagery

Nature

Although “The Woodspurge” has a plant’s name as its title, the poem does not have nature, or even the woodspurge itself, as its subject.

Nature does play an indirect role in the poem, but it is not the focus here or in other works by Rossetti. Both in his painting and in his poetry, the function of nature is to act as a background for the presentation of human action and emotion.

The depiction of details from nature, although precise and accurate, is not meant to draw attention to nature itself but to mirror a psychic state or inner experience.

Themes

Sense Perception

Rossetti’s unadorned presentation of nature mutes the setting, forcing it into the background, and causes the narrator’s mental and emotional state to emerge as the central focus.

The bare minimum of description functions to signal to the reader that the narrator himself is oblivious to the details of his surroundings because his mind is focused elsewhere.

The only record of his awareness of his environment, before his

dramatic visual experience of the woodspurge, is that he walked when the wind was blowing and that he sat when that external impetus ceased. His reference in the first stanza to the wind having been “Shaken out dead from tree and hill” introduces the thought of death, establishing a negative tone that suggests that the narrator’s internal state is negative.

Themes

Artistic Task

Pick one image from the poem and create an artistic illustration of it in your book.

Annotate your illustration and explain why you have chosen to present it in such a way

Presentation