Love from the North
A bride recalls a southern lover who always agreed with her. Just before she assents at their wedding, a strong northerner interrupts, carries her away on horseback without asking her consent, and binds her in marriage. She says his love holds her and that she now has neither the power nor the wish to refuse him.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Ballad, Love Poetry · 343 words
First lines
I had a love in soft south land, / Beloved through April far in May; / He waited on my lightest breath, / And never dared to say me nay.
He saddened if my cheer was sad, / But gay he grew if I was gay; / We never differed on a hair, / My yes his yes, my nay his nay.
Genres
- Ballad — Eight rhymed quatrains tell of an interrupted wedding and a horseback abduction, with dialogue and repeated variations on yea and nay.
- Love Poetry — The speaker contrasts a lover who obeys her every preference with the man who takes her without consent and subsequently holds her through love.
Tags
interrupted wedding · abduction · consent · marriage · submission · ballad
What this Textopian page supports
Love from the North 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: Ballad, Love Poetry
- Length: 343 words
- Structure: 1 section, 8 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Love from the North 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
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