In our last English Lit lesson we read through another Rossetti poem called 'The Convent Threshold'. I found the poem a lot more difficult to understand than some of the previous Rossetti pieces we've looked at. However I understood a few points made in the poem and will explain them the best I can.
The poem seems to be about a pair of lovers who have committed a 'crime', the most obvious thought is that they had sex outside marriage. The poem is told to us by a presumably female persona, and she seems to feel that they have sinned and so must repent. The sex outside marriage is insinuated through "all the gifts we took and gave" as the gifts they gave suggests they gave each other their love and virginity, however these were also the gifts they took as because they weren't married they shouldn't have taken these gifts from each other. So as I said the speaker seems very affected by what they did and she is trying pursuade her lover to repent in the poem. She seems to be very religious and feels they both must repent in order to go to heaven. The persona seems to feel tainted by their wrongdoing, this is shown in "My lily feet are soiled with mud, with scarlet mud"-this symbollises something pure and clean, like a lily being made dirty and stained. So this could show that the speaker's virginity and innocence have been spoiled. Also refering to the mud as "scarlet" suggests blood, so this ties in the idea of tradegy and extreme guilt on the speaker's part. So the speaker seems to want to make herself pure again, this is shown in "I seek the sea of glass and fire to wash the spot, to burn the snare"-she is seeking forgiveness, she wants to burn the symbollic snare that is holding her back (which could be her lover) so she can be free.
In the poem there is a lot of imagery about heaven and earth as the speaker seems to be torn between the two. Some examples of the imagery of heaven are "mansions where the righteous sup" and "far-off city grand"- as heaven is far off it could imply that the speaker is waiting for her lover to repent with her before making the journey to heaven. So the speaker obviously loves the man very much but is urging him to repent so they can be together forever in heaven, "Repent, repent, and be forgiven. This life is long but yet it ends" -if he repents their love can be eternal. However the man doesn't seem to be very interested in the idea of heaven, maybe he is not religious or feels they have done nothing wrong. A quote that shows this is "Your eyes look earthward, mine look up". This shows the seperation between the lovers and shows the speaker is in conflict; her religion or her love. This is also illustrated in the fact that earth is made to seem heavenly in the poem, perhaps showing earth is her heaven if her love is there. For example the people are described as having "golden hair" which suggests purity and happiness. The speaker feels very strongly about her religion and her wish that her lover will repent, however we see how much her love means to her. "How should I rest in Paradise, or sit on steps of heaven alone?" this shows even heaven cannot compare to their love, and that heaven would be more like hell were he not there with her.
So overall the speaker seems to be in conflict with herself in the poem; Heaven or earth? Religion or love? A quote that I think shows this is "only my lips still turn to you, my livid lips that cry, Repent!" The reference to lips shows her passion and love for the man, but the livid cry of "Repent!" shows her struggle and religious devotion.
The poem also shows parrallels with the story of Heloise and Abelard.
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