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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does the speaker in the first poem entitled Song say ought to be placed on the grave of those who died in their youth?

2. How many women sing of love together in A Triad?

3. To what does March's "peck of dust" correspond in the third stanza of Winter: My Secret?

4. In the second stanza of Echo, the speaker says that the dream's wakening should have been in what location?

5. What potentially causes the May flowers to wither in Winter: My Secret?

Short Essay Questions

1. To interpret beyond the literal meaning of the poem, why does the speaker not wish to reveal her secret in Winter: My Secret?

2. What is implied to be the meaning of the poem by the final stanza of An End?

3. For what reason does the poem's speaker feel the need to seek repentance in The Convent Threshold?

4. What fills the poem's speaker with sadness in At Home?

5. What is the tone of the speaker towards death in the final poem entitled Song?

6. What is the meaning of the word "deprecate" as used in the context of A Bruised Reed Shall He Not Break?

7. Why does Maude betray her sister in Sister Maude?

8. Why would the flowers given to the youth change from roses to violets after death in the first poem entitled Song?

9. What is the attitude of the first speaker in A Bruised Reed Shall He Not Break to his auditor?

10. What is the tone of the speaker in the first stanza of A Better Resurrection?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A constant theme in Rossetti's poetry is the struggle of a speaker against despair. Compose an analytical essay which examines this theme overall. How is it portrayed in individual poems? How is it portrayed overall? What shapes does the struggle take? What prompts the feelings of despair? In what ways, if any, is the despair overcome? With what does the speaker struggle against despair; in other words, how does she try to conquer it? Give specific examples.

Essay Topic 2

As Rossetti's poems turn more and more to religious devotion, the tone of her poems remains the same, but the content changes. Rather than have her speakers evince a desire for earthly love, they seek out sanctification and spiritual justification. In a rigorously developed and planned analytical essay, examine this transformation in desire. How are the earlier and later poems similar? How are they the same? What unites them? What distinguishes them? How are the later poems in some way a fulfillment of the earlier? What do the two sorts of desires reveal about human nature? What does the transformation in poetry reveal about human nature?

Essay Topic 3

Many of the poems in the collection, from The Convent Threshold through The World, deal with explicitly religious themes. Analyze the overall portrayal of religion in these poems in a thoughtful and insightful essay. How is religion portrayed in each individual poem? How is religion portrayed overall? With what sort of imagery and beliefs is religious practice associated? What do the poems indicate about religious belief? How do the speakers interact with religion? What does religion provide the speakers? What does faith provide?

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