The Thread of Life
The speaker feels imprisoned within the self, recalls days when fellowship seemed nearer, and wonders why the surrounding world's merriment feels inaccessible. Affirming the self as a lasting possession, the speaker offers it to a divine King who commands the speaker to sing of redemption and victory over death.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Sonnets, Lyric Poetry, Christian Devotional Poetry · 3 chapters · 514 words
First lines
The irresponsive silence of the land, / The irresponsive sounding of the sea, / Speak both one message of one sense to me: -- / Aloof, aloof, we stand aloof, so stand / Thou too aloof bound with the flawless band / Of inner solitude; we bind not thee; / But who from thy self-chain shall set thee free? / What heart shall touch thy heart? what hand thy hand? -- / And I am sometimes proud and sometimes meek, / And sometimes I remember days of old / When fellowship seemed not so far to seek / And all the world and I seemed much less cold, / And at the rainbow's foot lay surely gold, / And hope felt strong and life itself not weak.
What this Textopian page supports
The Thread of Life 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: Sonnets, Lyric Poetry, Christian Devotional Poetry
- Length: 514 words
- Structure: 3 chapters, 3 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Thread of Life 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
Genres
- Sonnets — Three rhymed fourteen-line sections move from inner solitude through self-examination to an offering of the self.
- Lyric Poetry — A first-person speaker expresses changing feelings of pride, loneliness, remembered hope, and spiritual resolve.
- Christian Devotional Poetry — The closing section offers the self to the King who gave Himself for the speaker and celebrates redemption, resurrection, and victory over death.
Tags
solitude · selfhood · fellowship · Christian devotion · redemption · mortality
Contents
- The Irresponsive Silence of the Land
- Thus am I Mine own Prison. Everything
- Therefore myself is that One only Thing