UPHILL BY CHRISTINA ROSETTI

Poems that depict struggle are, generally speaking, poems that are universal.
Everyone struggles in some capacity or the other, and this is hardly something
that the average person needs a particular art form to tell them. Christina
Rossetti was no stranger to struggle in life, and her poem, ‘Up-hill‘, seems to call
up her perspective on the concept. It imagines a conversation told in such a way
that the reader can easily hear one side or the other coming out of their own
thought process, and relating to it one way or the other. “An uphill battle” is a
common expression that likely informed the title of Rossetti’s work, so it is no
surprise that both the expression and the poem are still very relevant today.

Up-hill Analysis
‘Up-hill’ is written in a common style for poetry; it consists of four verses with
four lines each. Notably, ‘Up-hill‘ is written from the perspective of two distinct
narrators, one who asks questions, and one who provides answers. These
narrators are kept easily separate from one another by the
simple rhyming pattern of the piece. It is rhymed in an ABAB style, where every
“A” (which is to say the first and third line of each verse) rhyme is spoken by
one narrator, and every “B” line the other. To further simplify this, the lines also
alternate between asking questions and giving answers. In this way, Rossetti is
able to craft a poetic conversation between two people without complicating
her work in any way — normally a fairly difficult thing to do. Between the
rhyming and the narration pattern, this is an easy poem to read and follow,
and flows nicely, despite the somewhat erratic syllable count for each verse.

Stanza One
Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?

From morn to night, my friend.

In the first verse, the author seems to be drawing on the common “uphill
battle” metaphor to inform the title of the poem. The first speaker asks about
“the road,” and whether or not it is uphill for its entire length, as well as
whether or not the time it will take to walk the road will mean the entire day.
The description of the “whole long day” is an unusual choice — especially since
without the word “long,” this line would match the first one for syllables. Its
addition is meaningful in showing the reader that the speaking asking
questions is tired. Their uphill journey has clearly taken some time up to this
point, and they are anxious for its conclusion. It is also possible that the “long
day,” in contrast to simply “the day” refers to a twenty-four hour period. This
seems likely based on the answer they receive — that their journey will not be
over before sundown. The second narrator’s lines are much shorter than the
first one’s; they are succinct. The only aspect of their character of particular
note is that they refer to the other speaker as their friend.

Stanza Two
But is there for the night a resting-place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.

The questions and answers continue with the second verse, where
an atmosphere begins to become noticeable. The two characters portrayed
here are clearly very different in their perspectives on the uphill journey. The
first speaker is unsure and lacks confidence; here they ask if there is a place
they can stay for the night, since their journey will take so long. As soon as
they are told that such a place exists, they worry that they’ll miss seeing it. The
second speaker, by contrast, is certain not only that there is an inn for shelter
against the dark, but that they will undoubtedly find it before it is too dark to
see. It is an odd experience as a reader to alternate between fear and
confidence in every line of the work; Rossetti has chosen to portray one
journey through two opposite viewpoints, and yet it remains easy to follow
and understand.

Stanza Three
Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?
Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?
They will not keep you standing at that door.

In the third (and second-to-last) verse, the questioning narrator wonders about
the inn they are to find, and whether or not they will be welcome there. This is
a strange line of thought — the idea of an inn, after all, is for anyone to find
shelter, and an inn is constructed with nomads in mind. And yet, the speaker
here is concerned that they will be unwelcome, despite assurances from their
companion that they will be welcomed by the “other wayfarers.” The first
speaker hopes to find friends in their same predicament, and are told that they
will. The anxieties of the initial speaker and the confidence of the second one
continue to be the prominent theme of the work, though the identities of both
remain concealed.

Stanza Four
Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labour you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.

The idea of two friends walking up a hill for a full day is a rather unlikely
scenario in the literal sense. The expression from which ‘Up-hill‘ likely was
inspired refers to situations and scenarios that require harder work than usual
to overcome — walking down a pathway versus walking up a hill. In a
figurative sense, the speaker asking questions in this work is attempting to
overcome an obstacle, and liken it to trying to walk uphill for a full day. The
second speaker could be a friend encouraging them along the way, or it could
be another aspect of their own personality, their sense of optimism, or
determination to finish what they have started.

The idea of an inn along the way, in which lies comfort equal to the work put in
(“Of labour you shall find the sum”), as well as other people climbing the same
hill, is a likely metaphor for friends and family. It is difficult — to put it lightly
— to attempt to cross over any kind of obstacle without some kind of support.
If it was easy to do, after all, it wouldn’t be much of an obstacle. So the speaker
draws on their own sense of self and imagines that at the end of the day, there
will be a roof over their head. Perhaps they are going home to their family, or
perhaps the inn is a bar where they can meet up with friends and forget about
the hardships of the day.

The amazing thing about ‘Up-hill‘ is that any of the above interpretations are
plausible when the entire poem is read in a metaphorical context. At its core,
the poem is about two voices, one struggling and seeking rest, and another
encouraging them and telling them they will find it. Nearly everyone should be
able to relate to this in some way, because the poem is intentionally written to
stand on the fine line between vague and relatable. What exactly the speakers
are doing in trying to ascend this climb is unspecified, because it doesn’t
matter. What does matter is that second voice that encourages them, assures
them, and helps them to find rest. A friend, a family member, or an internal
voice — to every reader, it will be someone different. The important thing,
however, is that it will be someone.
 Palanquin Bearers Summary

Reference to the Context: These lines have been taken from the poem
‘Palanquin Bearers,’ composed on Aug 7, 1903, by Sarojini Naidu. Palanquin
Bearers is the first poem in the first section of The Golden Threshold. Like Tagore,
Sarojini Naidu, too, was more than a poet. She was one of the most illustrious
Indians who contributed to the cultural, political, and social advancement of the
nation in numerous ways. Her poetry is intensely emotional and passionate. Her
poetry continues to delight the readers by its sheer simplicity and sweetness.

This characteristically Indian poem takes us back to India at the beginning of

the present century when palanquins were a common sight in the Indian streets.
The streets of Sarojini’s hometown, Hyderabad, must have been full of them at
that time. One might even today go to remote Indian villages, far removed from
the modern means of conveyance, and observe the palanquin-bearers carrying
in the palki a young lady most probably to her husband’s house. The palanquin
bearers usually sing songs in rhythmic harmony with her footsteps.

summary

Sarojini Naidu the poetess says that the palanquin bearers are carrying the
palanquin slowly and steadily. They are happy and filled with joy, for they are
taking a noble lady, a newly wedded bride, to her husband’s house in a veiled
palki. The burden of carrying the palki is not cumbersome to them, and they are
carrying it very easily and with no discomfort. They are moving rhythmically
through the streets with the palki. The bearers sing gaily of the beauty of the
lady. The soft music leaps up in the air as the palanquin bearers bear the beauty
inside. As she is carried along, the palki palanquin bearers, sing this song in
rhythmic harmony with their footsteps. As they are moving, the lady sways with
the movement of the palki like a flower swaying in the gentle breeze. Then the
poetess compares her with a bird moving fast just above the surface of the
foamy river; and with the laugh that escapes the lips of the dreaming girl. Thus
the palanquin bearers admire her for her beauty in their songs. The act of
bearing the palanquin is joyful for them, for they are carrying a beautiful lady to
her husband’s house. They are advancing joyfully and happily. The lady inside is
richly attired, and the palki bearers are gaily dressed and adorned. She is like a
pearl hanging on a thread.
Their song compares the lady’s beauty with that of a star shining in the sky on a
dewy night. Then the poet compares the radiance of the bride with the rays of
light falling on sea waves. Despite her tear-filled eyes, for she is leaving her
parent’s house forever, the bride is gorgeous. Thus the palanquin bearers
admire her for her beauty. The heavy palanquin is very light for them, for it is an
errand of pleasure and joy. The young bride is as beautiful as a beautiful pearl
hanging from a string.

Critical Analysis of the Poem

It is the opening poem of ‘The Sceptred Flute, a collection of Sarojini’s poems.

The palanquin bearers who sang this song are usually two or four when they
carry in the ‘Palki’ a young, noble lady. It was common in the 19th century, or
even early 20th century, when cars had not been in everyday use, in almost all
the cities of Northern India, particularly Hyderabad, to see noble ladies visiting
places and their relative’s homes in veiled palkies.

In this particular case, a noble lady, most probably, (as it has not been
mentioned in the poem), a newly wedded bride, is being borne to her husband’s
house in a veiled palki. The palki palanquin-bearers sing this song in rhythmic
harmony with their footsteps as she is carried along. The scene of the young
lady assumed to be beautiful and in her full bloom, the veiled palki; the palki
bearers colourfully and gaily attired, and singing a song in adoration of the
young beauty they bear along is romantic, breathing an air of the days-gone-
by. There are two stanzas in the poem, each of six rhymed verses.

The first and the fifth verse in each stanza serve as a refrain, begin with a dactyl
and softly deviate into anapaests, and the other verses begin an iamb and glide
into anapaests. The palanquin sways along with swift movement with a rise and
fall in the palanquin-bearers footsteps, which the poetess defty catches by
using a rhythm of comparatively swift movement with stressed and unstressed
sounds so that strict correspondence is maintained between the swift
movement of palanquin bearers movement and the rapid rhythm of the poem.
The tune and the movement are simultaneously felt. The kinetic image-the
image of felt motion, to use a rhetorical phrase, is presented here. the Poet’s
craftsmanship is borne out by creating the required rhythm and tune with words
picked up and combined with the sureness of the much of an artist. There is full
rapport between the tone of the palanquin bearers in “Lightly, O lightly, we bear
her along; O Softly, we bear her along,” and the heartbeats of the lady seated
inside. The one is destitute of the metaphysical’ irony of the ‘progressive’
dissatisfaction. The sense of mutual belongingness only is felt in the process of
the palki, the bearers, the inmate inside, the song and the springly move ment,
all synchronising and fusing into one another. The emotion of the event is
successfully caught and poetess seems lost in the poem.

There are as many as seven similes-a sumptuous (rich) fare-which are stated
as under: The lady sways like a flower hangs, hengs like a star, springs like a
beam on the brow of the tide and falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride and
the palanquin-bearers bear her along like a pearl on a string.

It may seem to some critics that the images inherent in ‘singing’, ‘skimming’,
‘floating’, ‘hanging’, ‘springing’ and ‘falling’ are apt kinetic images (images of
seen motion). Still, there may be others who regard swaying in the wind of our
song and floating from the lips of a dream as vague. There may be others who
might take them to be examples of highly imaginative perceptions.
Notwithstanding, the two images, viz, ‘she falls like a tear from the eye’ of a bride
and ‘she springs like a beam on the brow of the tide are remarkable and
bespeak of the poet high sense of craftsmanship. Except for the lady falling (for
why should she fall ?), the first image bears out the age-old story of an Indian
bride’s sadness, whatever be the reason, separated from the parents or the
husband or any other thing. It may be nostalgic but approximates closely to the
Indian experience. The other image of a beam of light flashing across the ‘brow’
of a tide is apt in so far as it suggests a psychic and spiritual illumination, a ray
of hope through despair, a beam of delight through sorrow, a flash of light
through the darkness. ‘Brow’ is, indeed, appropriate, for it alone wears one’s
wreath or sorrow or sadness.
The remarks of James H. Cousins on the poem are significant: “Palanquin-
Bearers…. rests on no more substantial basis then the likening of a lady in a
palanquin to a flower, a bird, a star, à beam of light, and a tear : there is not a
thought in it: it is without the slightest suspicion of literature, yet its charm is
instantaneous and complete.”

“The “Palanquin-Bearers,” says Dr P. E. Dustoor, “is a representative utterance of

the poet’s,” as it is the verse-pattern, having a musical quality, the rhythm
having the lilt and liquidity of song, that is most characteristic of her and are
most readers favourites which this poem contains.
 SONNET 43: HOW DO I LOVE THEE

Summary
Sonnet 43′ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning(Bio | Poems) describes the love that
one speaker has for her husband. She confesses her ending passion.

It is easily one of the most famous and recognizable poems in the English
language. In the poem, the speaker is proclaiming her unending passion for
her beloved. She tells her lover just how deeply her love goes, and she also
tells him how she loves him. She loves him with all of her beings, and she
hopes God will grant her the ability to love him even after she has passed.

Themes
Browning engages with themes of love/devotion and relationships in ‘Sonnet
43’. From the first lines, it’s clear that this is going to be a love poem. She
addresses her listener, likely her husband Robert Browning, and tells him that
there are many reasons why she loves him and that she’s going to list them
out. As the poem progresses the language becomes more figurative with the
poet making various nature-based comparisons in order to depict her love
accurately and movingly.

Death comes into the poem at the end as the speaker talks about the length
and durability of their relationship. She hopes that God will allow her to love
her partner even in death. It becomes clear at the end that her love is a
spiritual one as much as it is a romantic one.

Structure and Form

‘Sonnet 43’ is classified as a sonnet because it contains fourteen lines of poetry
and has a fixed rhyme scheme of abba abba cdcdcd. This is the traditional
pattern of a Petrarchan sonnet, one of the two major sonnet forms. (The other
is the Shakespearean sonnet which rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG).The poem also
makes use of the usual metrical pattern associated with standard sonnet forms,
that is, iambic pentameter. this means that each line contains five sets of two
beats. The first of these is unstressed and the second is stressed.

Literary Devices
In ‘Sonnet 43,’ Browning makes use of several literary devices. These include
but are not limited to imagery, simile, and alliteration. The first of these is one
of the most impactful literary devices that a poet can use. It can be seen
through the poet’s ability to create images that appeal to or activate the
reader’s sense. These are things that can be seen, touched, heard, or smelt in
one’s mind. A good example comes from these lines “I love thee to the level of
every day’s / Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light”.

There is a great example of a simile in this line: “I love thee freely, as men strive
for right”. here, she compares the amount that she loves her partner to the
strength with which men “strive” for what is right, or just.

Alliteration is an effective device that’s used to increase the

overall rhythm and rhyme of a piece of poetry. For example, “purely” and
“praise” in line eight.

Speaker of Sonnet 43
One can assume, although it is not 100% certain, that Browning is also
the speaker of the poem since it is well known just how deeply she and Robert
Browning loved and cared for each other. The speaker is talking directly to her
beloved in the sonnet; she uses personal pronouns such as “I” and “you.”
Detailed Analysis
Line 1
Based on the initial line, it appears that the speaker has been asked a question
prior to reciting ‘Sonnet 43‘. The first line also serves as the motivation for the
rest of the work. Barrett Browning writes,

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

She then uses the last thirteen lines of the poem to show just how much she
loves her husband.

Lines 2-4
Lines 2-4 of ‘Sonnet 43‘ provide the first way in which the speaker loves her
husband. Barrett Browning writes,

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
Here she is describing that her love is as deep and wide and tall as it can
possibly be. It is so deep and wide and tall, in fact, that she cannot even “see”
the edges of it: it is infinite. Barrett Browning uses consonance in line two in
order to convey just how much she loves her husband. The repetition of the
“th” sound gives the line movement, which signifies that her love for him is
ongoing.

Lines 5-6
In the next two lines, Barrett Browning continues to show her husband how
much she loves him. She writes,

I love thee to the level of every day’s

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
These lines are particularly lovely in their simplicity. While her love knows no
bounds, the speaker also loves her beloved in ordinary, everyday life. She
needs him as much as she needs other basic necessities of life.

Lines 7-8
In lines seven and eight, Barrett Browning writes of two other ways she
loves. She writes,

I love thee freely, as men strive for right.

I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
These lines of ‘Sonnet 43′ give an innate sense of feeling to her love. Just as
men naturally strive to do what is good and right, she freely loves. In addition,
she loves him purely, just as men turn from praise in order to maintain
humility. The speaker does not want thanks or attention for her love; just like
good and just men, she loves because it is what she has to do. Using these
two similes in these two lines strengthens the tone of love and adoration in the
poem.

Lines 9-10
Barrett Browning continues with the pattern of showing how much she loves
her husband. She writes,

I love thee with the passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.

Barrett Browning’s diction here is interesting, particularly because she is taking

the feelings she has about something relatively negative and comparing it to
the feelings she has for her husband. Old griefs can be defines as anything
that a person passionately despises. She is telling her husband here that she
has as much passion for him as she does for those things in life that she just
cannot stand. She also loves him with the faith of a child, which is a
particularly lovely line. Children’s faith is usually steadfast and true. Just like a
child has faith, so, too, does the speaker have love for her husband.

Lines 11-13
Barrett Browning continues with this religious motif in the next lines. She
writes,

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life…
Her “lost saints” is a reference to all of those people she once loved and
adored in her life. The love she once felt for them, that she eventually lost, has
now been transferred into the love she feels for her husband. Additionally, she
loves him with all that she is: her breath, her smiles, and her tears. Barrett
Browning confesses that she loves her husband with all that has made up her
life.

Lines 13-14
Barrett Browning ends her poem by acknowledging that she is willing to love
her husband forever if God chooses to allow her to do so. She writes,

…and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.
Not only will she love him well into eternity, she writes, but she will also love
him even better than she does presently. Her love will continue to grow with
the passing of time, regardless of whether or not she or he is still alive. The
speaker’s love for her husband is so strong that not even death could destroy
it.
Historical Background
Elizabeth Barrett Browning(Bio | Poems) fell in love with Robert Browning(Bio | Poems) after
he reached out to her about her writing. The couple wrote letters back and
forth to each other before finally marrying, knowing full well that the marriage
would not be accepted by Barrett Browning’s father. Their marriage was not
only one filled with love but also respect for each other’s writings. The two
were each other’s biggest supporters, and so it is no surprise that Barrett
Browning would include this sonnet in her collection titled Sonnets From the
Portuguese, so titled because Robert Browning often referred to his wife as his
little Portuguese.