Fluttered Wings by Christina Georgina Rossetti
Daylight, sunset, fading clouds, a rainbow, and stars stir a grieving speaker's wish to leave life's toil and approach death. The restless heart longs to flee and rest as the world's glories grow dim.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Melancholic Poetry · 197 words
First lines
The splendor of the kindling day, / The splendor of the setting sun, / These move my soul to wend its way, / And have done / With all we grasp and toil amongst and say.
The paling roses of a cloud, / The fading bow that arches space, / These woo my fancy toward my shroud; / Toward the place / Of faces veiled, and heads discrowned and bowed.
The nation of the awful stars, / The wandering star whose blaze is brief, / These make me beat against the bars / Of my grief; / My tedious grief, twin to the life it mars.
O fretted heart tossed to and fro, / So fain to flee, so fain to rest! / All glories that are high or low, / East or west, / Grow dim to thee who art so fain to go.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Four rhymed stanzas express the speaker's inward response to changing light and stars, ending in an address to the restless heart.
- Melancholic Poetry — The speaker describes grief that mars life and a longing for departure that dims every earthly glory.
Tags
grief · longing for death · rest · stars · sunset
What this Textopian page supports
Fluttered Wings is listed on Textopian as a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Lyric Poetry, Melancholic Poetry
- Length: 197 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Fluttered Wings by Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph