Song by Christina Rossetti

Rhythm in the poem

The poem ‘Song’ by Christina Rossetti is about a woman who wants her loved ones to celebrate her life rather than mourning their loss of her at an inevitable life stage event. She shows her hope of being remembered when she finally realises that it will all be forgotten when the speaker say ‘And if thou wilt, forget.’ At this point, the speaker reaches a moment of despair.

In the poem, the line ‘I shall not see the shadows’ perfectly reflects the regular iambic trimeter. The impact of this is that it gives the poem a continuous rhythm which shows how the heavy feeling of grief is a consistent heart wrenching emotion. Every so often, Rossetti breaks from this regular iambic trimeter rhythm. 'I shall not hear the nightingale'. The bird nightingale represents spontaneity and freedom, because their songs are often regarded as spontaneous. The fact that Rossetti used this word in order to elongate the meter and mess up the rhythm, shows how the speaker believes that when she is dead she is free from the burdens of humanity as her soul is set free. In addition, her disrupting the rhythm shows how much she cares for her loved ones and how she wants to remind them that not only should they joyously celebrate her life, but that her love is eternal and she would do anything to proves this, even going as far as making the beats irregular in such a mysterious yet important form of expression.