The Woodspurge
By Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April
1882) was an English poet, illustrator, painter and
translator. He was born in London to parents of
Italian descent, the scholar Gabriel Rossetti and
Frances Polidori. Originally named Gabriel Charles
Dante Rossetti, he changed the order of his name
to stress his kinship with the great Italian poet,
Dante Alighieri. He was the brother of the poet
Christina Rossetti (who’s poem ‘The Birthday’ we
will be studying this year), the critic William
Michael Rossetti and the author Maria Francesca
Rossetti.
Rossetti’s Paintings
Rossetti’s Grief
‘The Woodspurge’ was written in 1856 when
Rossetti was 28. It is a sixteen-line poem divided
into four stanzas of rhyming quatrains. Each line has
eight syllables (iambic tetrameter).
The poem describes a grief-stricken narrator in an
outdoor setting. Rossetti’s wife, Elizabeth Siddal,
had died from overdose of laudanum (a type of
opiate) whilst she was pregnant. In his depressed
state, the narrator emotionally observes the details
of the woodspurge.
John Everett Millais’ ‘Ophelia’
The model used for ‘Ophelia’ was
Elizabeth Siddal, Rossetti’s wife.
Why Woodspurge?
Woodspurge is considered a weed. It is native to
woodland areas in Europe.
Despite the beauty of its
three-part blossom,
woodspurge is actually
poisonous, causing skin
irritation in many people.
The Woodspurge
The wind flapped 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 flowered, 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.
Questions
Overview:
1: Who do you think is the narrator?
2: Is the poem actually about a woodspurge?
3: What do you notice about Rossetti’s use of diction?
4: What is the rhyme scheme of the poem?
5: Read the poem aloud and examine: what effect do the rhyme
scheme, meter and punctuation have on the pace of ‘The
Woodspurge’.
6: What is your initial impression regarding the tone of this poem?
Questions
Stanza One:
7: How is the wind described in the first stanza?
8: What language features can you find and what
effect do they create?
Stanza Two:
9: What is the posture of the narrator in Stanza 2
and what might his position symbolise?
10: Look at the use of personal pronouns in this
stanza; what effect do they have on the meaning
and tone of the poem?
11:How long was the narrator sitting on the grass?
Questions
Stanza Three:
12. Why do you think the narrator’s eyes were ‘wide open’?
13. What are weeds like? Where do they grow?
14. What can weeds be likened to in this poem?
15: Comment on the impact of ‘flowered’. Compare it to the
narrator’s feelings at this point.
Stanza Four:
16: What do you think woodspurge is a metaphor for?
17: If Rossetti were to continue to believe this metaphor , do
you think it would help him to heal from his loss or grow
bitter?
Homework
Create a PowerPoint marrying the words of
Rossetti’s ‘The Woodspurge’ to collected images,
exploring the vivid imagery of the poem.