RENOUNCEMENT ALICE MEYNELL

I must not think of thee; and, tired yet strong,

I shun the love that lurks in all delight--
The love of thee--and in the blue heaven's height,
And in the dearest passage of a song.

Oh, just beyond the sweetest thoughts that throng

This breast, the thought of thee waits hidden yet bright;
But it must never, never come in sight;
I must stop short of thee the whole day long.

But when sleep comes to close each difficult day,

When night gives pause to the long watch I keep,
And all my bonds I needs must loose apart,

Must doff my will as raiment laid away,--

With the first dream that comes with the first sleep
I run, I run, I am gather'd to thy heart.

JOINING THE COLOURS KATHARINE TYNAN

There they go marching all in step so gay!
Smooth-cheeked and golden, food for shells and guns.
Blithely they go as to a wedding day,
The mothers' sons.

The drab street stares to see them row on row

On the high tram-tops, singing like the lark.
Too careless-gay for courage, singing they go
Into the dark.

With tin whistles, mouth-organs, any noise,

They pipe the way to glory and the grave;
Foolish and young, the gay and golden boys
Love cannot save.

High heart! High courage! The poor girls they kissed

Run with them: they shall kiss no more, alas!
Out of the mist they stepped-into the mist
Singing they pass.
A DAUGHTER OF EVE CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
A fool I was to sleep at noon,
And wake when night is chilly
Beneath the comfortless cold moon;
A fool to pluck my rose too soon,
A fool to snap my lily.

My garden-plot I have not kept;

Faded and all-forsaken,
I weep as I have never wept:
Oh it was summer when I slept,
It's winter now I waken.

Talk what you please of future spring

And sun-warm'd sweet to-morrow:
Stripp'd bare of hope and everything,
No more to laugh, no more to sing,
I sit alone with sorrow.

"CURSE FOR A NATION" - ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

I heard an angel speak last night,
And he said 'Write!
Write a Nation's curse for me,
And send it over the Western Sea.'
I faltered, taking up the word:
'Not so, my lord!
If curses must be, choose another
To send thy curse against my brother.
'For I am bound by gratitude,
By love and blood,
To brothers of mine across the sea,
Who stretch out kindly hands to me.'
'Therefore,' the voice said, 'shalt thou write
My curse to-night.
From the summits of love a curse is driven,
As lightning is from the tops of heaven.'
'Not so,' I answered. 'Evermore
My heart is sore
For my own land's sins: for little feet
Of children bleeding along the street:
[]
'For an oligarchic parliament,
And bribes well-meant.
What curse to another land assign,
When heavy-souled for the sins of mine?'
'Therefore,' the voice said, 'shalt thou write
My curse to-night.
Because thou hast strength to see and hate
A foul thing done within thy gate.'
'Not so,' I answered once again.
'To curse, choose men.
For I, a woman, have only known
How the heart melts and the tears run
down.'
'Therefore,' the voice said, 'shalt thou write
My curse to-night.
Some women weep and curse, I say
(And no one marvels), night and day.
'And thou shalt take their part to-night,
Weep and write.
A curse from the depths of womanhood
Is very salt, and bitter, and good.'
So thus I wrote, and mourned indeed,
What all may read.
And thus, as was enjoined on me,
I send it over the Western Sea.
The Curse
Because ye have broken your own chain
With the strain
Of brave men climbing a Nation's height,
Yet thence bear down with brand and
thong
On souls of others, -- for this wrong
This is the curse. Write.
Because yourselves are standing straight
In the state
Of Freedom's foremost acolyte,
Yet keep calm footing all the time On
writhing bond-slaves, -- for this crime
This is the curse. Write.
Because ye prosper in God's name,
With a claim
To honor in the old world's sight,
Yet do the fiend's work perfectly
In strangling martyrs, -- for this lie
This is the curse. Write.
Ye shall watch while kings conspire
Round the people's smouldering fire,
And, warm for your part,
Shall never dare -- O shame!
To utter the thought into flame
Which burns at your heart.
This is the curse. Write.
Ye shall watch while nations strive
With the bloodhounds, die or survive,
Drop faint from their jaws,
Or throttle them backward to death;
And only under your breath
Shall favor the cause.
This is the curse. Write.
Ye shall watch while strong men draw
The nets of feudal law
To strangle the weak;
And, counting the sin for a sin,
Your soul shall be sadder within
Than the word ye shall speak.
This is the curse. Write.
When good men are praying erect
That Christ may avenge His elect
And deliver the earth,
The prayer in your ears, said low,
Shall sound like the tramp of a foe
That's driving you forth.
This is the curse. Write.
When wise men give you their praise,
They shall praise in the heat of the phrase,
As if carried too far.
When ye boast your own charters kept
true,
Ye shall blush; for the thing which ye do
Derides what ye are.
This is the curse. Write.
When fools cast taunts at your gate,
Your scorn ye shall somewhat abate
As ye look o'er the wall;
For your conscience, tradition, and name
Explode with a deadlier blame
Than the worst of them all.
This is the curse. Write.
Go, wherever ill deeds shall be done,
Go, plant your flag in the sun
Beside the ill-doers!
And recoil from clenching the curse
Of God's witnessing Universe
With a curse of yours.
This is the curse. Write.
MEYNEEL RENOUNCEMENT

(shun evitar // throng amontonarse, multitud// I needs must=tengo que // doff=desvestir,

quitar del cuerpo // loose=soltar)

TYNAN JOINING THE COLOURS

(drab not colourful // lark Alondra //

The poem tells of a regiment of soldiers leaving Dublin to fight in France; written from a female
perspective the poem juxtaposes (directly contrasts) images of the innocent naivety of the
young soldiers with images of death. The poet speaks of the sad realization that the love felt
for these men by the women left at home cannot save the soldiers from their uncertain
futures and likely deaths.

IMAGES OF INNOCENCE

"Food for shells and guns" - the guns are personified as if they will devour these innocent
men. The guns will have an insatiable (unending appetite) for young flesh.

"Smooth-cheeked and golden"

"The mother's sons" - by referring to them as mother's sons it makes them appear younger,
more youthful.

"Too careless gay for courage" - they cannot be called courageous because they are going to
war without really thinking about it.

"Foolish and young, the gay and golden boys" "Blithely" = carelessly

IMAGES OF DEATH

"They pipe their way to glory and the grave." (alliteration)

"Out of the mist they stepped - into the mist singing they pass." "singing they go into
the dark."

IMAGES OF NOISE

"singing like the lark" "singing they go" "with tin whistles, mouth organs, any noise,They pipe."

"High heart! High courage!" - the exclammation marks help us to imagine that they words
would be shouted by the men or the crowd.

The overall effect is to create a cacophonu of sound perhaps this is to contrast with the noise
of the battle field to which they are heading. ("the shells and guns")

STRUCTURE

The poem is written as a ballad. Traditionally ballads were written to immortalise (keep alive)
the memory of someone's life. They would have a jaunty and regular rhyming scheme and
rhythm, so that the poem was a celebration. This poem however ends with a short, anti-
climactic last line which gives a sense of pathos. These are sad, wasted lives not to be
celebrated in a ballad form.
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI A DAUGHTER OF EVE

(stripped bare desvestir// to pluck depillar // to snap quebrar, romper) Furthermore, her
repeated use of the word "fool" and repeated tones due to the ABAAB rhyming pattern
underscore the speaker's sadness. Firstly, the poem is about a fallen woman (a prostitute), and
it is more than likely that this may have been a representation of one of the woman Rossetti
talked to and helped when she volunteered at the St. Mary Magdalene house of charity in
Highgate, 1859 1870. Primarily, the poem is about one of the fallen woman blaming her
deep-seated religious beliefs for the love that she lost. The title itself holds a biblical reference
to Eve and the garden of Eden. This connection could either be seen as showing the
connection between these fallen woman and God, or how all woman are prone to
temptation, like Eve was to the forbidden apple. The words on the first line sleep at noon is
used to show that the woman is sleeping when nothing is happening and this represents her
outcast from society due to her previous profession. The words comfortless cold moon is
used to represent the Greek moon goddess Artemis, who was also goddess of birth, the hunt,
and virginity. Thus the word comfortless is used to show the lack of favour now that the
womans virginity has been squandered. The line A fool to pluck my rose too soon is
reminiscent of the line in King Lear, Shakespeares tragedy. The fool was usually the jester in
a court and it was his role to perform tragedies. The word rose is the virginity that the woman
has lost and too soon is to show that she loved too soon and her heart broken as well as her
innocence stolen. Snap my lily is used to show the destruction of something beautiful: a lily is
usually a delicate flower, and now that the flower is destroyed, the delicacy is lost. Garden-
plot is again another way to describe the womans virginity, however, it has also been seen to
mean the body, and by leaving it not kept, illness and disease has been allowed to fester and
spread, thus spreading corruption through the body, much like the sin of lust does through the
soul. I weep as I have never wept is to show the deep inner trauma the woman is feeling at
her own foolishness for losing that which would have kept her safe in Victorian society: a
woman had to be a virgin before marriage, or she was seen as unfit and tainted, as sex before
marriage was a sin. In those times, your position in society was decided by the man you
married, and if you could not marry a man, you would end up with a poor job and a very low
position in society. The words future spring and sweet to-morrow show the new hope most
people talk of and you can always pull yourself out of the gutter. However, Christina is saying
talk what you please which shows that for these women, the fallen ones, there was no hope
and an easy way out. Their fate and place in society was decided when they lost their
maidenhood. The last line of the poem I sit alone with sorrow again highlights how she is an
outcast from society and the also the remorse she feels for her actions.

Ultimately, this poem highlights the themes of depression, isolation and prostitution. It shows
the pain that comes with regret, and the fall in society. It also hints at the fallen spirituality
people faced back then, and how religion was a very big part of society and its rules.
BARRETT-BROWNING, ELIZABETH. "CURSE FOR A NATION"
The poem starts off by the narrator being visited by an angel. The angel tells her to write a
curse to America. The narrator tries to take a stand against the angel, telling him that America
are their comrades and wishes to write something else to them, due to the intense gratitude
he has towards the United States. The angel does not budge, and tells her that heaven wishes
it to be done. She stops the angel. She tells him that he cannot write a curse toAmericaabout
slavery because her own country has problems. People are starving in the streets and have do
not even have shoes for walking.

She says that America stands for freedom, and the ability to follow the hearts desire. Their
country however, is ruled by parliament. Those people will falter at even the smallest bribe.
She continues to say that she cannot curse the West when England is filled with sin. The angel
replies that she will write the curse. Because she knows sin, and seen hate. The angel feels
America is heading in that direction. She replies it is better suited for a man to curse than a
woman. She is only good for weeping. The angel continues to tell her to write, from the
depths of womanhood. The woman mourns as she finally starts writing a curse to the West

The letter starts by saying that they have reached the peak of their nation, and now they can
only look down on people, and deem themselves above other people (slaves). They claim that
they stand for freedom, and yet they enslave others. They claim that they follow God and take
from their former nation, but they lie. The letter then states how they just sit back and watch,
never doing anything but stand there and do nothing about it. They just watch while their
nation crumbles around them, and only will say something about it when there is no one
listening to their words. They watch as people struggle and die around them, but anything they
say will be meaningless, only their soul could show their true sadness. The good people pray to
God, but they hear even the faintest prayer, it is loud, as if their enemies are marching on their
gates.

The curse ends with the narrator writing that fools will taunt them, and they will turn them
away. And that they are guilty because everything they claim they value is a lie. The final lines
tell them to continue along their path. They should have slaves and conquer others. For Gods
curse will be their doom.

I can see this poem being a stab at the people of England just trying to have their own opinions
on slavery in the Americas. In this case, Browning is showing her support for the New World.
She sees it as a place of freedom, prosperity and promise. She feels that if one would follow
their heart there, they will gain all they desire. By her stanzas in the prologue, Browning seems
to feel indebted to America. She has no ill will towards them, even though her country lost two
wars to them. She in a sense feels that these people are her kinsman, as their forefathers were
once a part of England. However the angel (possibly a stand in for her country or government)
is trying to force her to think otherwise. England sees slavery as horrible and thinks America is
going against what they say they stand for.
As such, despite her wishes, she must succumb to her government and follow their side. She
really has no choice. If she does not, she could be shunned by her homeland. Browning feels
like America is much like England. She cant be so quick to judge them. It feels like she cant do
so because they have similar problems like people living in poverty and general unhappiness.
She wishes to have the choice to think how she wants.