A Pause of Thought
A speaker waits for an unattainable object of hope and repeatedly resolves to abandon it for peace, yet continues the pursuit. The closing rebuke reproaches the speaker for returning to a chase already known to be useless.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Meditative Poetry · 213 words
First lines
I looked for that which is not, nor can be, / And hope deferred made my heart sick in truth / But years must pass before a hope of youth / Is resigned utterly.
I watched and waited with a steadfast will: / And though the object seemed to flee away / That I so longed for, ever day by day / I watched and waited still.
Sometimes I said: This thing shall be no more; / My expectation wearies and shall cease; / I will resign it now and be at peace: / Yet never gave it o'er.
Sometimes I said: It is an empty name / I long for; to a name why should I give / The peace of all the days I have to live? -- / Yet gave it all the same.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Five rhymed quatrains present a speaker's longing, disappointed expectation, and repeated failure to relinquish hope.
- Meditative Poetry — The speaker questions why an empty name should cost a lifetime's peace and acknowledges the uselessness of continuing the pursuit.
Tags
deferred hope · unattainable desire · waiting · resignation · self-reproach
What this Textopian page supports
A Pause of Thought is listed on Textopian as a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Meditative Poetry
- Length: 213 words
- Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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