‘Cousin Kate’ by Christina Rossetti Essay

This Victorian poem is ab bring out the storyteller (a fallen woman), the shaper and Kate. It is a ballad which tells the story from the narrators perspective around being shunned by family after her experiences with the noble. The poems female verbalizer unit recalls her contentwork forcet in her humble surroundings until the local Lord of the Manor took her to be his lover. He discarded her when she became pregnant and his affections turned to a nonher village girl, Kate, whom he consequently married. Although the loud utterer systems community condemned the speaker as a fallen woman, she reflects that her love for the lord was more faithful than Kates.She is proud of the son she bore him and is sure that the man is unhappy that he and Kate lie childless. Some readers think that she feels more betrayed by her full cousin-german than the lord. This poem is a dramatic monologue scripted in the Victorian era. Structure The poem is written in startle person narrative. It ha s 6 stanzas of 8 p atomic number 18nthoods One stanza each on the narrator, the Lord and Kate stanza 4 contrasts the position of the narrator and Kate stanza 5 criticises Kate and stanza 6 focuses on the narrators triumph at having a child.Each stanza is the same length and each line has a similar heartbeat, giving it a ballad-like feel. It could also be conveying the strength and perseverance of the narrator who has to face life in deviation with the expectations of Victorian society. Note that the tone changes as the poem progresses regret, accusation, bitterness, triumph. The hoar scheme always connects the B (2nd line) of each couplet. E. g Stanza one AB/CB/DB/DB. Sometimes the first line of the couplet is rhymed. The rhyme emphasises the last world to aid meaning.The regular rhyme could also give notice that narrator has not only been dominated by the Lord (because men and in particular men of a higher social standing) but is also trapped with Victorian social convention s (she is now a fallen woman in conflict with the values of her society). Sometimes the first line is rhymed as in Stanza 3 AB/AB/CB/AB. In this case the words Kate, gate and estate atomic number 18 stressed in order to convey the way Kate has been elevated from her position in society.However in stanza 5 this rhyme of true and you contrasts the narrators strength of feeling with Kates. Cousin Kate is written with an iambic rhythm. Generally, one line of the poem has three feet, and the next has four. The poem, therefore, generally follows the follo university extension pattern da dum da dum da dum da dum da dum da dum da dum Iambic rhythms often follow the natural rhythm of speech, a little like a heartbeat. If we apply this to one of Rossettis lines, it reads as follows Because you were so severe and everlasting(a).Therefore the meaning of the words is captured in the line as specific words are stressed. The repetition of Why did a great lord find me out, conveys the anger and bewilderment of the speaker at her change of circumstances, whilst the phrase good and pure has a hollow ring by its irregular occurrence. Thereafter, repeated phrases are altered to highlight the contrasting situations of Kate and the speaker The community call Kate good and pure, but call the speaker an outcast thing.Kate sits in gold, the speaker sits in junk. The image of dust connects to a life of poverty and also suggests how she has been soiled by society. Whereas gold suggests that her cousin has riches. Kates fate is to sit and sing, the speakers to sit and howl. This suggests the mental fretting that the narrator is experiencing at being abandoned whereas to sing indicates that Kate is content. However, the speaker believes her love was true, while Kates love was writ in sand suggesting that her love is stronger than Kates.The echoed structure in the final stanza that Kate has not got and is not like to get the gift of a child emphasises the speakers sense of trium ph. Language The speakers questions in the first stanza express her anger and confusion at the experiences she has had to endure Why did a great lord find me out Why did a great lord find me out? She suggests that ahead the arrival of the great lord, she was happy and contented (line 3). She was not looking for a overbold situation in life.It came unexpectedly. The idea that the lord filled her heart with care suggests that she had less to worry about previously. She is angry that he made her anxious instead of happy and took her away from her friends, her cottage mates (line 3). She questions her cousin Kate in stanza 4 suggesting that she loved the lord whereas her cousin did not marry for love. The speaker addresses her questions, laments and moans to Kate. She begins the third verse, O Lady Kate, my cousin Kate and the fifth, O cousin Kate.Throughout, she employs a tone of accusation, repeatedly using the word you as she compares Kate to herself. In the last four lines, the s peaker draws her attention away from her bitterness at Kate and addresses her son. She calls him my shame, my pride (line 45). The oxymoron highlights the conflict that she experiences at loving the Lord and her son but also knowing that she has defied moral convention. Through diligent and passive verbs Rossetti emphasises the powerlessness of women in Victorian society by associating the lord with a series of actions which prosecute the initiative.He found the speaker out / praised her / lured her / wore her / changed her / cast her by / fooled her. These are vinegarish actions, which become more heavy with admiration to Kate. want a stalker, the lord saw her / chose her / watched her / lifted her To sit with him / springtime her/ won her / bought her. Like a hunter, the lord found the speaker out, lured her, then chose his next victim in Kate, whom he watched, then picked up (lifted) and bound.Both women are referred to as birds, with Kate seeming to be trussed and bound b y her fine clothes and wedding ring. In Cousin Kate, the dove image draws on these ideas of apprehend and fulfilment and is a symbol of purity that stands in direct contrast to the contaminated state the speaker finds herself as she describes herself as an unclean thing (line 15). However, she acknowledges that the tenderness associated with the dove is no match for Kates stronger wing.Even though the speaker claims that she wouldhave spit and would not have taken the lord, the fact that this is in the future conditional tense indicates that the reality of the situation is in fact very different she allow for always be powerless. Alliteration is used throughout the poem The soft innocence of the speaker before her life changed is conveyed by the soft M of maiden, mates and mindful in stanza 1 When the speaker claims that she was led to the lords house to lead a shameless shameful life, the sibilance in this line reinforces the joining together of oxymorons that these words perfor m.It also reflects the hushed manner in which the speaker was ensnared by the lord, taken in, then later cast aside The speakers anger shines through the harsh consonants of Lady Kate, my cousin Kate In the final stanza, the speaker emphasises the close bond she shares with her son when she asks that he bind closer, closer yet (line 46). The emphasis here highlights her fear and together with the repetition of the word closer, suggests that it is for her protest comfort, as well as her sons, that they remain together.Strong images are used to convey the quandary of the narrator. She claims that the lord considered her as a plaything (line 12) whom he could treat how he liked without any regard for her feelings. Much like the silken knot (line 12) he wore around his neck (a cravat or tie), he tempered her as a fashion accessory he could use and then cast away, rather than as an individual with her own needs. The speaker recognises that the lord changed me like a hand (line 13).He used her and moulded her into a shape that suited him and then, like a glove that no longer pleases, dispensed with her completely. A glove is an intimate and personal object that fits itself around its user. By describing herself as a glove, the speaker acknowledges that she lost can of her own needs and desires in an attempt to please and suit the lord. Essay title Explain how Rossetti creates almsgiving for the narrator in Cousin Kate. Use examples from the poem to support your answers.