L. E. L by Christina Georgina Rossetti
A speaker laughs with others but suffers alone, longing for love while spring brings pairing birds, nests, and new growth. Her finery conceals her distress; she wonders whether saints and angels perceive it, and their closing words urge patience and promise love in a renewed heaven and earth.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Religious Poetry · 491 words
First lines
"Whose heart was breaking for a little love. "
Down-stairs I laugh, I sport and jest with all: / But in my solitary room above / I turn my face in silence to the wall; / My heart is breaking for a little love. / Though winter frosts are done, / And birds pair every one, / And leaves peep out, for springtide is begun.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — The first-person speaker repeats her longing for a little love through rhymed stanzas contrasting private sorrow with spring's activity.
- Religious Poetry — The closing stanzas introduce saints and angels whose words promise life born of death and love in a renewed heaven and earth.
Tags
longing for love · loneliness · concealed sorrow · spring · afterlife
What this Textopian page supports
L. E. L 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, Religious Poetry
- Length: 491 words
- Structure: 1 section, 7 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
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