A Prodigal Son by Christina Georgina Rossetti
A son living hungry among swine wonders whether the lamp his father lit when he left still burns. Remembering the plenty at home, he resolves to return and ask for a servant's place.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Dramatic Monologue, Religious Poetry · 222 words
First lines
Does that lamp still burn in my Father's house, / Which he kindled the night I went away? / I turned once beneath the cedar boughs, / And marked it gleam with a golden ray; / Did he think to light me home some day?
Hungry here with the crunching swine, / Hungry harvest have I to reap; / In a dream I count my Father's kine, / I hear the tinkling bells of his sheep, / I watch his lambs that browse and leap.
There is plenty of bread at home, / His servants have bread enough and to spare; / The purple wine-fat froths with foam, / Oil and spices make sweet the air, / While I perish hungry and bare.
Genres
- Dramatic Monologue — The son alone speaks, moving from questions about his father's lamp through his present hunger to his intended plea.
- Religious Poetry — The son's intended appeal connects fallen sonship with lost grace and asks the Father to grant him a servant's place.
Tags
hunger · repentance · family estrangement · servitude
What this Textopian page supports
A Prodigal Son 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: Dramatic Monologue, Religious Poetry
- Length: 222 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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- Work identity for A Prodigal Son by Christina Georgina Rossetti
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