The World by Christina Georgina Rossetti
The speaker personifies the world as a woman who offers fruit, flowers, and satisfaction by day but appears as a loveless, clawed monster at night. The speaker questions whether to surrender soul, life, and youth to her, imagining becoming cloven-footed and bound for hell.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Sonnet, Allegorical Poetry · 191 words
First lines
Sonnet.
By day she wooes me, soft, exceeding fair: / But all night as the moon so changeth she; / Loathsome and foul with hideous leprosy, / And subtle serpents gliding in her hair. / By day she wooes me to the outer air, / Ripe fruits, sweet flowers, and full satiety: / But through the night, a beast she grins at me, / A very monster void of love and prayer. / By day she stands a lie: by night she stands, / In all the naked horror of the truth, / With pushing horns and clawed and clutching hands. / Is this a friend indeed; that I should sell / My soul to her, give her my life and youth, / Till my feet, cloven too, take hold on hell?
Genres
- Sonnet — Fourteen rhymed lines turn from contrasting daytime allure and nighttime horror to a closing question about surrendering the soul.
- Allegorical Poetry — The world takes the personified form of a woman whose inviting pleasures conceal horns, claws, and the threat of damnation.
Tags
temptation · worldly pleasures · damnation · personification · sonnet
What this Textopian page supports
The World 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: Sonnet, Allegorical Poetry
- Length: 191 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
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