Wife to Husband by Christina Georgina Rossetti
A wife asks her husband to forgive her faults and bids him farewell, contrasting his continued enjoyment of life with her approaching death. She requests farewell gestures for friends but offers him no word, lock, or kiss, declaring that death parts the two who were one.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Lyric Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Love Poetry · 242 words
First lines
Pardon the faults in me, / For the love of years ago: / Good by. / I must drift across the sea, / I must sink into the snow, / I must die.
You can bask in this sun, / You can drink wine, and eat: / Good by. / I must gird myself and run, / Though with unready feet: / I must die.
Blank sea to sail upon, / Cold bed to sleep in: / Good by. / While you clasp, I must be gone / For all your weeping: / I must die.
A kiss for one friend, / And a word for two, -- / Good by: -- / A lock that you must send, / A kindness you must do: / I must die.
Genres
- Lyric Poetry — Five rhymed stanzas repeat the speaker's goodbye and certainty that she must die.
- Dramatic Monologue — The wife addresses her husband throughout, anticipating his embrace and weeping without giving him a spoken reply.
- Love Poetry — The wife appeals to their former love and describes death as dividing the two who were one.
Tags
marital love · farewell · impending death · forgiveness · separation
What this Textopian page supports
Wife to Husband 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: Lyric Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Love Poetry
- Length: 242 words
- Structure: 1 section, 5 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Very Easy (5th Grade or below)
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- Work identity for Wife to Husband by Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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