An Old-World Thicket
Unsure whether awake or asleep, a weary speaker wanders through a wood whose birdsong and beauty deepen a sense of defeat and loneliness. As the woodland sounds seem to become lamentation, the speaker passes through anger and despair, questioning life, death, and an existence without change or hope. Looking up at sunset, the speaker watches a peaceful flock of sheep journey homeward toward rest.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Meditative Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Nature Poetry · 1,978 words
First lines
. "Una selva oscura. " -- Dante.
Awake or sleeping (for I know not which) / I was or was not mazed within a wood / Where every mother-bird brought up her brood / Safe in some leafy niche / Of oak or ash, of cypress or of beech,
Genres
- Meditative Poetry — The speaker questions the reasons to live or die and contrasts passing pain with the prospect of an existence without beginning, end, or possibility.
- Lyric Poetry — Rhymed five-line stanzas follow the speaker's changing feelings, from loneliness and anger to despair and weary self-pity.
- Nature Poetry — Detailed descriptions of trees, nesting birds, water, sunset, and sheep frame the speaker's distress and the closing homeward procession.
Tags
woodland · birdsong · despair · mortality · eternity · sunset · sheep
What this Textopian page supports
An Old-World Thicket 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: Meditative Poetry, Lyric Poetry, Nature Poetry
- Length: 1,978 words
- Structure: 1 section, 37 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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