Christina Rossetti

The Thread of Life

'''I'''
The irresponsive silence of the land,
The irresponsive sounding of the sea,
Speak both one message of one sense to me: —
Aloof, aloof, we stand aloof, so stand

Solitude as bondage

The 'flawless band' makes isolation sound perfect and unbreakable—a chain that can't be criticized or escaped because it has no weak point.

Thou too aloof bound with the flawless band
Of inner solitude; we bind not thee;
But who from thy self-chain shall set thee free?
What heart shall touch thy heart? what hand thy hand? —
And I am sometimes proud and sometimes meek,
And sometimes I remember days of old
When fellowship seemed not so far to seek
And all the world and I seemed much less cold,
And at the rainbow's foot lay surely gold,

Rainbow's foot

Old folklore claimed you'd find gold where rainbows touch the ground. She's saying her younger self believed in impossible promises.

And hope felt strong and life itself not weak.
'''II'''

Prison reversal

The octave describes freedom everywhere except inside herself—she's caged by her own consciousness while the world moves freely around her.

Thus am I mine own prison. Everything
Around me free and sunny and at ease:
Or if in shadow, in a shade of trees
Which the sun kisses, where the gay birds sing
And where all winds make various murmuring;
Where bees are found, with honey for the bees;
Where sounds are music, and where silences
Are music of an unlike fashioning.
Then gaze I at the merrymaking crew,
And smile a moment and a moment sigh
Thinking: Why can I not rejoice with you?
But soon I put the foolish fancy by:
I am not what I have nor what I do;

Identity paradox

'I am not what I have nor what I do'—rejecting external definitions of self. Then 'I am even I' insists on an unchanging core identity beneath everything.

But what I was I am, I am even I.
'''III'''
Therefore myself is that one only thing
I hold to use or waste, to keep or give;
My sole possession every day I live,

Time's winnowing

Winnowing separates wheat from chaff by tossing it in the air. Time can't separate her essential self from what she possesses—the self remains.

And still mine own despite Time's winnowing.
Ever mine own, while moons and seasons bring
From crudeness ripeness mellow and sanitive;
Ever mine own, till Death shall ply his sieve;
And still mine own, when saints break grave and sing.
And this myself as king unto my King
I give, to Him Who gave Himself for me;
Who gives Himself to me, and bids me sing
A sweet new song of His redeemed set free;
he bids me sing: O death, where is thy sting?
And sing: O grave, where is thy victory?

1 Corinthians 15:55

Direct quotation from Paul's resurrection chapter. The poem pivots from psychological imprisonment to Christian triumph over death.

Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

The Sonnet Sequence as Argument

Rossetti builds a three-sonnet argument about selfhood and isolation. Each sonnet is a Petrarchan (Italian) form—octave posing a problem, sestet attempting resolution—but the resolution keeps failing until the final turn to Christianity.

Sonnet I establishes the problem: irresponsive appears twice in two lines, hammering home that nature doesn't answer back. The octave asks 'what heart shall touch thy heart?'—a question that gets no answer in the sestet. Instead, the sestet retreats to memory, to a time 'when fellowship seemed not so far to seek.' The past tense matters. She's not solving loneliness; she's remembering when it felt solvable.

Sonnet II deepens the trap. Now she's explicitly 'mine own prison' while everything around her is 'free and sunny.' The bees have honey, the birds sing, the winds murmur—nature is self-sufficient. She can only watch 'the merrymaking crew' from outside. The sestet's conclusion—'I am not what I have nor what I do; / But what I was I am, I am even I'—sounds like acceptance but functions as a cage. If identity is fixed and unchanging, there's no escape from isolation.

Sonnet III breaks the pattern by reframing ownership. The same unchanging self that trapped her in Sonnet II becomes 'that one only thing / I hold to use or waste, to keep or give.' The logic is Christian: if the self is the sole possession, it can be given to God. The final couplet quotes 1 Corinthians 15:55, Paul's taunt at death after describing resurrection. The sequence moves from psychological isolation to theological solution—but notice she never claims to feel less alone. She claims to belong to Christ, which is different.

Rossetti's Renunciation Pattern

This poem follows Rossetti's recurring template: describe a problem in sensory detail, then resolve it through religious surrender. She did this her entire career, often after refusing marriage proposals (she turned down two men on religious grounds).

Context: Rossetti was high Anglican, influenced by the Oxford Movement's emphasis on ritual, sacrament, and renunciation. Her brother Dante Gabriel was a Pre-Raphaelite painter; she modeled for his religious paintings and absorbed the movement's medieval imagery. But while the Pre-Raphaelites romanticized the past, Christina used medieval forms (like the triple sonnet) to argue for present-day asceticism.

The poem's emotional honesty is in what it doesn't claim. She never says God makes her feel less alone or that faith brings fellowship. The 'sweet new song' she's bid to sing is about death's defeat, not about present comfort. The structure is telling: two full sonnets of isolation, then a third that pivots to theology only in the final six lines. The octave of Sonnet III still focuses on possessing the self 'despite Time's winnowing'—the religious resolution is brief and comes late.

Notice the shift in pronouns. Sonnets I and II use 'I' and 'me' almost exclusively. Sonnet III introduces 'my King' and 'He Who gave Himself'—the syntax mirrors the theological move from self-possession to self-gift. But the final lines are commands: 'He bids me sing.' She's not spontaneously joyful; she's obedient. For Rossetti, that distinction might be the point.