Rossetti consistently presents nature in her poetry to
represent different aspects of life; religion particularly. Rossetti was
brought up in a religious house hold and became more enveloped in her religion
throughout her life, however in the 1800’s women weren’t expected to know
anything more than dance, music, art and home economics so through the medium
of poetry she had a way of expressing her thoughts and feelings about her
religion.
One way Rossetti presents nature in her poems is in the
title of the poem “Paradise: In a Dream”. The word “Paradise” is significant
because it connotes a personal Heaven or Eden; however, a paradise is usually
seen as an unachievable state of perfection or is often connoted with being
postlapsarian which is the fall of man, often depicted in the Bible. The idea
of paradise being unattainable is then reiterated with the following part of
the title, “In a Dream”. Perhaps to Rossetti “paradise” is a representation of
Heaven.
Rossetti presents nature as being new and hopeful in the
poem, “Paradise: In a Dream”, “the flowers that bud and bloom in Paradise;”
interestingly the idea of a flower being a “bud” often represents freshness and
fertility, the idea that it will grow and develop into a beautiful flower is
continued because Rossetti chose to use the word “bloom”, which connotes hope
and youth. It’s significant though that Rossetti only described a paradise
where the flowers are either new, or just growing because it leaves a sense of
eternity, this is supported through the use of endjandment which leaves the
impression of eternity.
Also, Rossetti presents nature as a sort of paradise in the
poem, “Shut out” similarly to the poem “Paradise: In a Dream”. Rossetti’s
speaker describes being shut out of “My garden, mine, beneath the sky,” the
continued use of pronouns creates an impression that the garden is personal and
belongs to Rossetti’s speaker, almost as though it’s the only thing that truly
belongs to them. Therefore you could infer that the “garden” is perhaps a
representation for paradise/religion, childhood and imagination or even
femininity. Especially considering that women during the 1800’s did not have a
lot to call their own because once they were married they were the property of
their husbands.
Notably Rossetti often presents nature as being vividly
colourful, or having more than one colour. This is apparent in several poems.
For instance in the poem, “shut out” she describes the flowers as being “Pied”
which means to have two or more colours, it appears that the flowers being pied
makes them richer and more alive. This is confirmed later in the poem when the
speaker is described as “Blinded with tears; nor grieve for that” when the
speaker is no longer able to see the “garden”, but instead the speaker sees
that “A violet bed is budding near,” This is important because the flowers the
speaker sees are no longer pied, but they’re one colour, “violet” and notably
violet is usually associated with death. Therefore we could infer that Rossetti
is showing nature as bright and colourful to represent life, but that when
you’re dead everything is colourless.
Another way Rossetti consistently presents nature in her
poems is as being religious. For instance, in the poem “A Birthday” Rossetti’s
speaker describes a dais with “doves and pomegranates,” this is important
because doves are usually connoted with the biblical story of Noah, and
Christians usually recognise the dove as a symbol for peace, furthermore
Rossetti herself was High Anglican so it’s likely she would use nature in order
to represent religion as it was so prevalent throughout her life. Also,
“pomegranates” are often associated with religion and are seen to symbolise
resurrection and the hope of eternal life, due to the fruits abundance of
seeds, this is exemplified in Christian art such as Botticelli’s painting “The
Madonna of the pomegranate” which sees the Christ child holding a pomegranate
to symbolise eternal life. Furthermore, in the poem “Paradise: in a Dream”
Rossetti constantly describes nature, especially living creatures in plurality,
however in the fourth stanza the speaker says “The Tree of Life, stood budding
there,”. This is significant because it’s singular, yet Rossetti has chosen to
portray it as “budding”, it could be because trees have connotations of being
strong and rooted, but it could be because it represents Christ. In medieval literature
especially, “The Tree of Life” is often depicted as Jesus’ crucifixion, which
makes sense because Jesus allowed himself to be crucified because he loved
humanity and wanted to save them, all people were forgiven their sins and could
go to Heaven, Similarly a tree is thought of as being strong, helping to
sustain the rest of nature and as a refuge.
