PASSING AWAY

Passing away, saith the World, passing away:
Chances, beauty and youth, sapped day by day:
Thy life never continueth in one stay.
Is the eye waxen dim, is the dark hair changing to grey
That hath won neither laurel nor bay? 5
I shall clothe myself in Spring and bud in May:
Thou, root-stricken, shalt not rebuild thy decay
On my bosom for aye.
Then I answered: Yea.

Passing away, saith my Soul, passing away: 10
With its burden of fear and hope, of labour and play,
Hearken what the past doth witness and say:
Rust in thy gold, a moth is in thine array,
A canker is in thy bud, thy leaf must decay.
At midnight , at cockcrow, at morning, one certain day 15
Lo, the Bridegroom shall come and shall not delay:
Watch thou and pray.
Then I answered: Yea.

Passing away, saith my God, passing away:
Winter passeth after the long delay: 20
New grapes on the vine, new figs on the tender spray,
Turtle calleth turtle in Heaven's May.
Though I tarry, wait for Me, trust Me, watch and pray.
Arise, come away, night is past and lo it is day,
My love, My sister, My spouse, thou shalt hear Me say. 25
Then I answer'd: Yea.

I would like to focus this essay on the pre-Raphaelite poet Christina Rossetti and her poem called “ Passing Away” . I have decided to write an essay about her because she was completely unknown to me. So, I decided to give my own impressions about the poem without researching about her. The reason I was determined to do this essay about “ Passing away” was that I was astonished when I read the poem the first time. I did not know anything either about the poet nor about her work; the only thing I knew about her, was the socio-historical context of her time but when I read her poem, I experienced the sensation of knowing more and more about her with only a few words full of meaning. So, I decided to write my own sensations and the opinions the poem suggested me. I meant I wanted to analyse the poem through my way of thinking and later on, compare such impressions with other analysis in order to realize my own mistakes or misconceptions.

First of all I would like to explain my first impressions before getting immerse in a deeper level of study about the poem. One of the first perceptions one has over the poem is his tough religious charge with a common use of words like “Soul” (line 10), “Pray” (line 17), “God” (line 19) and “Heaven” (line 22). Obviously all these words are associated with religion and they prove that she had a deeply religious temperament. After doing my research, I realized that she was a devout High Anglican, much influenced by the Tractarian, or Oxford , Movement and, I noticed religion was extremely important for her, even more than love, now that she rejected several suitors for religious reasons.

In the second stanza, in line 15: “ A midnight, at cockcrow ”, we can find another religious connotation; this connotation has to do with a passage in the Bible, concretely in the moment in which Jesus Christ told to his disciple Peter: “I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times”. After investigation, I noticed that Rossetti used to make continuous references to Biblical Passages in her writing. Furthermore we can find another evidence of her religious devotion in last stanza, in line 21: “ New grapes on the vine ”, I think it has a religious connotation as instead of mentioning another fruit she mentions this one, and I think the reason could be because the wine comes from the grape, (the fruit of the vine) and the wine is supposed to be the blood of Christ.

Following my first impressions, another thing which I noticed was the word “canker” (line 14). Without any knowledge about her, I could become aware of she was suffering a horrible ailment. Later on, when I did my corresponding researching, I found out Rossetti suffered a severe disease during a good part of her life until she finally died for bosom cancer.

In order to begin with a deeper commentary, something that attracted my attention was the attitude that Rossetti shows all along the poem. In the first stanza, she uses an attitude of pessimism. In this stanza she is talking about the passing of time but she does it in a melancholy way. The clue to notice that is given in lines 2-5. She is talking about the lost of the youth and beauty, with its respective consequences and an instance of such consequences is the going grey of the hair. In this stanza the poet is transmitting us the poetic idea of the Carpe Diem , to take advantage of that passing by moment where the things would not happen twice. Here, Christina is talking in a physical way; she is telling the reader the things that our bodies have to experience with the passing of time, in other words, our physical aging and this is something that we can not avoid as well as it is something that can not occur twice.

In the second stanza Rossetti's attitude is not as pessimistic as it is in the first one but it remains being pessimistic and the clue comes from lines 12-14: “ Hearken what the past doth witness and say:/Rust in thy gold, a moth is in thine array, /A canker is in thy bud, thy leaf must decay .”; the poet is making something similar to a pessimistic revision of the broken promises of the past. Now, in this second stanza, she is talking in a metaphysical way because she mentions the word “ Soul” (line 9) and for Christians the soul is an important part of the human being's essence. Moreover, at the end of the stanza she uses the word “ pray” and what this word implies (the act of praying) is considered the only vehicle to reach the metaphysical world as according to the religious canon if we pray we can reach the Heaven (that metaphysical place).

In the last stanza Rossetti's attitude has changed. Now the poet is using an optimistic attitude. She is claiming for the arrival of best times. Christina uses the word “ winter” (line 20) in a symbolic way with a negative connotation. After my consulting her biographical resources I read that Christina hated winter opposite to how she loved the sun and go to the beach during Summer time. So, when she used the word winter probably she was referring to bad times. The word “ night” (line 24) can also have a negative connotation because she is contrasting night and day, as if night were bad and day were good; as if night and winter were memories of broken vows belonging to the past time and spring and day were the hope of new vows, new times. Thus, what spring and day could symbolize, according to the author, is the quest for perfection.

Finally, I would like to remark the importance the title of the poem has (“ Passing away” ). It looks like if the poet perceived a kind of evasion by means of religion; the hope of new promises (before mentioned) which only could be achieved by means of God. By that reason “ Passing away” is repeated all the time along the poem trying to convince the reader that what is waiting for us is better at the after life than what we are experienced in this, although, she encourages the reader to pray, because this is the way to reach that ideal of eternity. Therefore, with a wide spread vision we could consider this poem from a religious point of view as optimistic, yet Passing away would lead us from the pain and suffering of this world to the devotional, spiritual and eternal life in Heaven

In order to conclude with my essay, I would like to say that the impressions this poem has suggested me, apparently meaningless at first sight, have taught me several things about life, feelings and state of mind of the author, as well as it has taught me how important Christina Rossetti and her writings are for the history of literature as she was one of the best poets of her time. Thanks to her, I have learned the great importance that the symbolism that generally speaking the words has in literature, but especially in poetry.