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A Birthday, Winter: My Secret - Coggle Diagram
A Birthday
Contextual Influences
-religion, finding spiritual love
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recurring idea of fruit 'thickset fruit' = reminder of the garden of Eden & luscious fruit, 'silver grapes'= eaten at Holy dinners, silver = precious
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Critical Views
Anthony H. Harrison - rich artistic details of the ''dais'' overshadow the impulse of love that generates its gothic artifice, and those details, in contrast with the natural images of the poem's first stanza, imply that the only true and permanent fullfillment of love is to be found in the art it gives birth to.
Lynda Palazzo- Rossetti never tries to hide her religious poetry, so why would this be implied or beneath the surface? instead, she suggests that it's an exploration of the poetic itself and Dante Gabriel Rossetti's idea that everything has a point at which pleasure in it becomes poetry itself.
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Winter: My Secret
Content
First person speaker emphasises the idea of the secret being more valuable/ominous, but also possibly more detrimental
The poem was originally called 'nonsense' - this title creates an idea that the poem could possibly be about nothing at all and there is no secret whatsoever
Playful and teasing tone, used to evoke an interest in the potential secret from the reader
Multiple possibilities on what this "secret" truly is. It could be a possible pregnancy, affair, or, perhaps, there is no secret at all
The tone of the poem changes in the last stanza, things become awfully dower, which could be intentional from the speaker. The gloomy description in the final stanza may be her saying that when I die, or am close to death, perhaps I might decide to reveal my secret...Or she'll leave it up to interpretation
Links to AIH
Idea of hiding secrets and the possible dangers it brings e.g Robert concealing his secret from Gertrude, their marriage nearly faltering and Mrs Cheveley almost resulting as the victor
Idea of being playful, playing with peoples emotions e.g. Mrs Cheveley, how she makes herself appear innocent and vulnerable to Robert and Lord Goring before nearly ruining Robert and gaining the upper hand (for the time being) on Lord Goring
Speaker is very similar to Lord Goring in terms of language use e.g. very playful, aphorism-like language
Speakers persona also replicates that of Mabel, who is very playful/cheerful herself, and also uses very expressive/happy/cheerful language, similarly to the speaker in the 3rd stanza
The speaker describes using a veil or cloak to protect herself and her "secret", similarly, Mrs Cheveley wears a cloak when she visits Lord Goring. Could suggest that a woman has to conceal/hide away certain things/facts/secrets about herself or others under a cloak or some form of protection, as society wouldn't allow them to express themselves during the time period
Critical views
Dolores Rosenblum - "The speaker, the owner of the 'mask' asserts her right to speak her own thoughts"
Dinah Rose - 'A verbal striptease - if she were to "ope" herself to all it would potentially be very dangerous"
Simon Avery - "Behind this playfulness, however, is an intriguing study in the manipulation of power. For the speaker denies entry to the reader and instead metaphorically wraps herself in protective clothing which will keep others out"
Simon Avery - "In poems such as these, then, Rossetti's speakers demonstrate both an awareness of and resistance to, those social and political expectations which define acceptable roles for women and which particularly leave them powerless
Contextual influences
Women had very few rights at the time and their position in society was one of no importance - e.g. being pregnant out of wedlock, having any possible affair
Women during the time period would have had to keep any possible affair or pregnancy outside of marriage a secret lest they be discovered and shunned from society