Paradise by Christina Georgina Rossetti
The speaker recalls a dream of Paradise, with surpassingly beautiful flowers, singing birds, a refreshing river, and the healing Tree of Life, then glimpses golden streets through the gate called Beautiful. The speaker hopes to experience Heaven directly rather than in dreams and share a place with the saints and God.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Christian Devotional Poetry, Lyric Poetry · 463 words
First lines
Once in a dream I saw the flowers / That bud and bloom in Paradise; / More fair they are than waking eyes / Have seen in all this world of ours. / And faint the perfume-bearing rose, / And faint the lily on its stem, / And faint the perfect violet / Compared with them.
I heard the songs of Paradise: / Each bird sat singing in his place; / A tender song so full of grace / It soared like incense to the skies. / Each bird sat singing to his mate / Soft-cooing notes among the trees: / The nightingale herself were cold / To such as these.
Genres
- Christian Devotional Poetry — The vision of the Tree of Life and Heaven culminates in the speaker's hope to dwell with the saints and God.
- Lyric Poetry — Six rhymed stanzas express a speaker's remembered dream and personal longing to experience its heavenly sights directly.
Tags
heaven · dream visions · Tree of Life · birdsong · devotional poetry
What this Textopian page supports
Paradise 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: Christian Devotional Poetry, Lyric Poetry
- Length: 463 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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