Christina Rossetti's poems were considered morality plays, especially in comparison to the sensual and even sexual poetry of her brother Dante. However, Rossetti's poetry demonstrates the Victorian mentality in that it is not simply reverent and preachy. Rossetti's poems, like those of the Victorian era, are full of questions about life...what it means to be a human and what it means to be a woman. Rossetti asked these questions in a way that allowed his poetry to be seen as simple and moral, even if it is misleading. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Scanned Excerpt “White and golden Lizzie stood, '-'-'-'Like a lily in a flood,-- '-'- '-'Like a rock of blue-veined stone'-' -'-'Flashed stubbornly by the tides,--” '-'-'---(Marché des Gobelins 408-411) In these four lines from Marché des Gobelins, Rossetti is using his characteristic way of appearing to say something something very simple while involving much more. Let's first look at these four lines from a technical perspective. The first three lines contain seven syllables, four of which are stressed with three unstressed syllables interspersed. The regularity of the rhythm, combined with the gentle, soothing repetition of the "L" sounds (in "Lizzie", "like", "lily" and "lashed"), create a lilting, lullaby-like sound that somehow little singing. erotic cautionary tale. Each of the first three lines begins and ends with an accented beat, so that the line break interrupts a potential spondaic foot. The stops of the lines framed by accented beats create an exaggerated pause between the lines, so that they seem independent of each other. This effect breaks the format of comparisons. The pauses and pauses cause the reader to separate the tenor from the vehicle, so we're not sure what exactly "Like a Lily" or "Like a Rock" means...is it Lizzie? the way she stands? its color or its purity? Comparisons also arouse interest because they contradict each other. A “lily in the flood” will behave very differently from a “rock of blue-veined stone / whipped by the tides”. The lily is likely to be broken or uprooted by a flood, whereas a stone can only wear away over years and years after being hit by the tides. In particular, “rowdy” tides pose a problem, since the word “rowdy” occurs in three unstressed beats, breaking the rhythm of the lines. The tides are therefore noisy and uncontrolled, lacking force against the rock, fading where the rhythm wants them to remain strong. The role of color in these four lines evokes angelic and royal imagery. Lizzie is "white and gold", colors associated with purity and angels, and "blue veins" indicating aristocratic or royal blood. Lizzie represents, in these lines, an idealized woman: she is angelic and noble. However, Rossetti seems to question what the idealized woman is: is she pure and delicate like a lily, or cold and persevering like stone? Or, is the perfect woman somehow called to the impossible task of being all of these things at once? The steady rhythm and the calming, reassuring consonance of the repeated “l” are forces in leading the reader to view the work as a simple tale of the triumph of morality. But the shift in the last line, the strange use of the word “rowdy” and, above all, the incongruous comparisons make the reader uncomfortable in this reading. If Rossetti simply wanted his readers.