POETRY

An Analysis on The Woodspurge by Dante Rosetti

Anna Anganita Theresia Latumeten 0905085164 D Regular 2009 English Departement Mulawarman University

The Woodspurge
By Dante Gabriel Rosetti

The wind flappd loose, the wind was still, Shaken out dead from tree and hill. I had walked on at the wind's will, I sat now, for the wind was still.

Between my knees my forehead was, My lips, drawn in said not Alas! My hair was over in the grass, My naked ears heard the day pass.

My eyes, wide open, had the run Of some ten weeds to fix upon; Among those few, out of the sun, The woodspurge flowerd, three cups in one.

From perfect grief there need not be Wisdom or even memory: One thing then learnt remains to me, The woodspurge has a cup of three

Title
The title The Woodspurge here may represent a kind of flower. Woodspurge, is widely known as an European herb with greenish yellow flower. It is a plant of the very large genus of Euphorbia, has a cup like flower. Although The Woodspurge has a plants name as its title, the poem does not have nature, or even the woodspurge itself, as its subject. Nature does play an indirect role in the poem, but it is not the focus here.

The Woodspurge

Theme
The theme of the poem is the feeling of grief and the state of mind to go through all those griefs the author feels inside his mind. It is well-known that Dante Rosetti wrote this poem in his grief after the death of his wife, so in the poem, Rosetti portrayed himself has lost all sense of purpose and has so little will of his own.

Persona
In The Woodspurge, Dante Gabriel Rosetti uses plain and forceful language to recreate a moment of contemplation and grief. He narrates a basic scene from the perspective of an unknown person in which individual wanders in a natural setting, sits down, and in an emotional state, observes the details of a particular woodspurge.

Structure
The poem consists of 4 stanzas. Each of the stanzas are formed by 4 lines each, make the poem has 16 lines in total.

Rhyme
The rhyme scheme of the first stanza is AAAA; The wind flappd loose, the wind was still, A Shaken out dead from tree and hill. I had walked on at the wind's will, I sat now, for the wind was still. The rhyme scheme of the second stanza is BBBB; Between my knees my forehead was, My lips, drawn in said not Alas! My hair was over in the grass, My naked ears heard the day pass. The rhyme scheme of the third stanza is CCCC; My eyes, wide open, had the run Of some ten weeds to fix upon; Among those few, out of the sun, C C C B B B B A A A

The woodspurge flowerd, three cups in one.C The rhyme scheme of the forth stanza is DDDD; From perfect grief there need not be Wisdom or even memory: One thing then learnt remains to me, The woodspurge has a cup of three D D D D

Meter
The meter of the poem is predominantly Iambic Tetrameter, a pattern in which a line has four pairs of unstressed followed by stressed syllables eight syllables in all, and four feet in each line. (Except line 12 that has 9 syllables) The WIND | flappd LOOSE | the WIND | was STILL, 1 2 3 4

Sha KEN | out DEAD | from TREE | and HILL. 1 2 3 4

I HAD | walked ON | at THE | wind's WILL, 1 2 3 4

I SAT | now, FOR | the WIND | was STILL. 1 2 3 4

Bet WEEN | my KNEES | my FORE | head WAS, 1 2 3 4

My LIPS, | drawn IN | said NOT | A LAS! 1 2 3 4

My HAIR | was O | ver IN | the GRASS, 1 2 3 4

My NA | ked EARS | heard THE | day PASS. 1 2 3 4

My EYES, | wide O | pen, HAD | the RUN 1 2 3 4

Of SOME | ten WEEDS | to FIX | u PON; 1 2 3 4

A MONG | those FEW, | out OF | the SUN, 1 2 3 4

The | wood SPURGE | flo WERD, | three CUPS | in ONE. 1 2 3 4

From PER | fect GRIEF | there NEED | not BE 1 2 3 4

Wis DOM | or E | ven ME | mo RY: 1 2 3 4

One THING | then LEARNT | re MAINS | to ME, 1 2 3 4

The WOOD | spurge HAS | a CUP | of THREE 1 2 3 4

Figures of Speech
1. Personification Line 1: The wind flappd lose, the wind was still Line 2: Shaken out dead from the tree and hill. 2. Alliteration Line 1: The wind flappd lose, the wind was still. Line 3: I had walkd on at the winds will. Line 4: I sat now, for the wind was still. Line 15: One thing then learnt remains to me

Meanings
STANZA 1: The poem begins with the first stanza which explains the location of the man. Probably hes in a countryside, surrounded by trees and hills. Here, the author tries to explain the narrators state of mind by explaining the nature surrounding him. The wind flappd loose, the wind was still, Shaken out dead from tree and hill. I had walked on at the wind's will, I sat now, for the wind was still. Line 1, The wind flappd loose, the wind was still, tries to explain the wind pattern he feels at that moment. He can feel how the wind breeze, and make flapping sound, and then he can feel the wind was still, or become calmer. Line 2, Shaken out dead from tree and hill, tries to explain that the narrator feels like he can hear that the wind makes the surrounding become more alive. It is like the wind is waking up the tree and hill, making the surrounding or the nature become lively, not quiet. Line 3, I had walked on at the winds will, if we ever hear the expression of gone with the wind, this is probably what happens to the narrator. This line presents that the author is walking in the nature, but he is not walking towards a specific destination. He moves in the direction the wind is blowing. He has no destination, and it shows a feeling of insecurity. Line 4, I sat now, for the wind was still. This is strengthen the assumption of the author having the feeling of insecurity and has no direction or destination to go. Once the wind ceases, he stops he probably sits in the grass. The fact that his walking and stopping are guided merely by the wind indicates aimlessness and passivity.

STANZA 2: The second stanza mostly explains about the emotional and feeling indication of the narrator in the poem. This is clearly we can see from each line of the stanzas. They may not explain directly how he feels, but from how he describes his condition, we can assume how his emotional condition at the moment. Between my knees my forehead was, My lips, drawn in said not Alas!

My hair was over in the grass, My naked ears heard the day pass. Line 5: Between my knees my forehead was. This line is a little bit explaining the emotional condition of the narrator. The way he sits on the grass may represent the state of exceeding depression. Sitting on the grass he is hunched over with his head between his knees, this posture may indicate insecurity. Line 6: My lips, drawn in, said not Alas! more of his condition can be seen from his line. He presents himself as having his lips drawn in which may probably mean cannot speak anymore. This may imply that, his depression is so severe that he cannot even groan aloud or speak a word of grief. The word Alas! as we know is the expression of pain. So here, we can assume that he is terribly depressed, so that he is no longer being able to say or complain about his difficulties anymore. Line 7: My hair was over in the grass. Here, he explains that he is casting down his head. Again, we have to assume that this is the condition of insecurity and depression. His head is casted down, as is his soul so much that his hair is touching the grass. Line 8: My naked ears heard the day pass. His physical state reflects his psychic paralysis as he remains motionless in this position for an unspecified length of time. Well, probably, at this moment, he may also do a little flashback to what has happened to him that makes him become under such circumstances. Heard the day pass, can probably mean recalling the memory, or such.

STANZA 3: In this stanza, this is become important fact: the inadvertent cause for his ensuing visual experience. This is the part where he sees the woodspurge and we can feel a little attitudechanging from the narrator. My eyes, wide open, had the run Of some ten weeds to fix upon; Among those few, out of the sun, The woodspurge flowerd, three cups in one. Line 9: My eyes, wide open, had the run let the readers know about the sudden changes in his attitude. From his insecure position, he finally does a movement. This may implicate that he finally accepts what had happened and knows that he has to move on. He can finally see his life clearly because his eyes have opened widely.

Line 10: Of some ten weeds to fix upon. From his seated position, as he is starting to see everything clearly with his eyes, he can see the ten weeds. This reflects that he sees his problem and becomes aware of it. He realizes that the weeds (his problem) are in his way and the hardiness of the weeds tells that the problem that he faced are hard to be rid of. Line 11: Among those few, out of the sun, this is implied that his eyes are catching something in the middle of those weeds. It seems like he finally discovers something, probably the answer of the problems that are represents by the presence of the weeds. Line 12: The woodspurge flowerd, three cups in one. This is we can finally know what he had discovered among the weeds he sees. Out of that group, a flowering woodspurge captures his complete attention and he is dramatically impressed by the detail that it flowers as three cups in one. Here, we may imply that, he finally discovers that out of the entire problem he has, he can always find a better thing in life like the woodspurge that can grow beautifully even in the middle of ugly weeds.

STANZA 4: The narrator attributes his depressed state to perfect grief in the final stanza. He then comments that grief may not function to bring wisdom and may not even be remembered. He implies that he himself learned nothing from his grief that day and can no longer remember its cause. From perfect grief there need not be Wisdom or even memory: One thing then learnt remains to me, The woodspurge has a cup of three Line 11:From perfect grief there need not be from this line we can finally know the reason behind of his depression and insecurity, which is no other than grief. He describes it as perfect grief, and we can find a lot of reason for people to grief at, but here there is still no elaboration as to its cause for him in this case. Line 12:Wisdom or even memory. He then comments that grief may not function to bring wisdom and may not even be remembered. He implies that he himself learned nothing from his grief that day and can no longer remember its cause. So perhaps here he wants to emphasize that it is no use for human beings to trapped in problems, difficulties, insecurity and moreover grief, because in the end, they will give nothing, not even wisdom or even memory.

Line 13:One thing then learnt remains to me. But then he adds a single thing remains in his mind, which is going to be explains in the next line. Line 14:The woodspurge has a cup of three. We all know how he had been visually overwhelmed by the shape of the woodspurge and consequently, its image and the fact that The woodspurge has a cup of three have been vividly burned into his memory forever. So maybe, to conclude the thoughts he had previously, he remember the woodspurge among the weeds and how it can manage to grow beautifully. This may imply that even though he has a lot of insecurities and difficulties, or even if perfect grief goes along his life, he can always see the beautiful side of everything. And when you open your eyes, see life, accept it the way it is, and move on from your problems, you can always see the happy ending. From the beginning of the poem, Dante Rosetti wrote that he has lost all sense of purpose and depends solely on the wind to guide him. He has so little will of his won that when the wind is still he takes no notice of time and sits on the grass all day. As he sits he sees some ten weeds to fix upon, these weeds represents his problems, which seems overwhelming. But among those weeds he notices a woodspurge. In the end he realizes that we need not always learn from grief nor constantly harbor its memory. Sometimes its better to forgive and forget so that we may move on and take note of the simpler beauties in the world, such as the woodspurge flower, and learn from them. Because, Every cloud has a silver lining!