More handpicked essays just for you.
The portrayal of women in 19th century literature
Female roles in early British literature
Female roles in early British literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The portrayal of women in 19th century literature
Christina Rossetti and John Keats were both poets in their own prime. Rossetti wrote the somewhat controversial poem, Cousin Kate (1879) and John Keats wrote the French named poem, La Belle Dame sans Merci, (1819) which means “the beautiful woman without mercy”.
Both poems explore the injustices of love and power and also the consequences of what happens with a potentially bad decision. Not only this, they both address these themes with a particular balance of the two; they both have similarities, yet they both contrast in many different ways. Each poem shares similarities which are reflections of the poets’ lives before they became literary sensations.
Christina Rossetti, who came from an artistic and incredibly religious background, was a devoted Anglo-catholic and spent a lot of time and energy as a member of the Church of England. Her work consistently conveys her deep religious sensitivities and pervades through most of her poems. However this did not lead to a preaching and moralising front; on the contrary, she did all she could to help the disadvantageous women of that society: prostitutes.
Details of Rossetti’s life were a vast contrast to how Victorian women were ‘supposed’ to act in those times. Women were not supposed to be precocious or adulterated, however, Rossetti and her beliefs challenged the traditional Victorian ‘dream’, therefore resulting in her involvement with prostitutes at the St. Mary Magdalene “house of charity” in Highgate.
Rossetti’s religious convictions were so strong that they led to heart break when she rejected two marriage proposals; the marriage proposal of Charles Cayley hit her fiercely, as her love for him was profound and it was to leave a lasting impact on her life and her work. S...
... middle of paper ...
...ould give up anything to have an heir to his fortune, and a son adds to the novelty as well. In spite of this, and very contradictorily, the maiden uses her son as a tool, just as she was, to show off how well she is doing. I would say this is not the intended epitome of Victorian traditions, however it seemed to have worked in favour of them maiden in Cousin Kate.
The poem ends on a less happier not that it began with; the emphasis is now on the narrator’s positive situation and the negative situation of Kate’s and the Lord’s, however, although this is the case, there are certain words within the poem, to describe the narrator, which are sad, and show off her desperation, want and even need for a better life, especially now that she has her illegitimate child. Words such as ‘shameful’ and ‘shameless’, ‘unclean’ and ‘howl’ emphasizes this point with efficiency.