Compare Christina Rosetti's Approach to the Subject of Death in 'After Death', 'Remember', 'Song' and 'Dream' Making Reference to any of her Other Poems as Appropriate.

Because of this male Victorian writers had two conflicting images of women. One was the pure, dutiful helpmate and the other was the exciting but dangerous sex object. As time passed on the lives of some women changed due to growth of industry, as this created jobs for them. These jobs were difficult and also poorly paid, but they gave women a taste of life outside of the home. Victorian writers began to explore the real lives of working women, but it wasn’t until the end of the Victorian period that woman’s rights began to develop. In the Victorian society motherhood was greatly admired. A mother’s love was considered very important for children as the ideal woman dedicated her life to her family. A lot of women died during childbirth as it was a hazard in reality, sometimes because complications in the delivery but mostly because of puerperal fever. This is an infection we can now avoid by antibiotics. There was no effective contraception in the Victorian period; due to this married women had huge families, one pregnancy after the other. Marriage was considered before thinking about children as society had a cruel attitude towards children born outside of marriage. Women had little authority in the Victorian society so having children ruined the lives of unmarried mothers by leaving them unsupported and also making them out to be shameless. As neither mother nor child had any claim on the father.

Christina Rosetti went through a lot in her life at only a young age. In 1840 her father became sick and later died. Christina Rosetti had her own breakdown as only a teenager as she had to go through seeing her father ill and dying. Later on in life her brother’s wife died of an opium overdose. In 1876 her sister died from cancer. Her brother had a mental breakdown in 1882, which he died from. This was due to the fact of his father, wife and one of his sisters dying. She also nursed her aunt and her mother through their own deaths. So all through her life she has had to deal with a lot of death making her a sensitive person. Apparently Christina Rosetti fell in love twice. The most important relationship was with James Collinson. She became engaged to him at the age of eighteen. Two years on he broke off the engagement as her wanted to pursue a life of religious service. Christina was affected very deeply by this. She wrote some of her most poignant lines on the imminence/pathos of death at the height of her love for Collinson. When she was engaged to Collinson she was in very poor shape and seemed as though she was shrinking from the commitment. Marriage demanded commitment and stamina, which she did not seem to have much of. The poems ‘Remember’, ‘Song’ and ‘After Death’ came from this period (1848). The poem ‘Dreamland’ first appeared in the first edition of a magazine called ‘The Germ’ of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, late 1840’s. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was an art movement, which attracted a lot of artists and literary figures. Both of Rosetti’s brothers were founder members of the movements. These artists used details from a nature to present some inner truth, beauty and simplicity. Truth in art and religion reigned supreme. Many poets and writers were concerned with death. Rosetti seemed interested in how gender and sexual interest might affect the way people mourn. She explores the value of mourning in relationships in which the fleeting nature of love is acknowledged. Death is seen as an absolute relief from suffering, a rest from life’s struggles or a conclusion of a journey or quest. The afterlife can be seen as an ideal place or a reward of enduring life. Death is the final resting place in preparation for ultimate joy and peace. Religious imagery appears in so many of her poems with the implication of fulfilment by resurrection with Christ. Sometimes Christina frequently juxtaposes the inadequacies, pain and struggles of the world with imagined pleasure and ecstasy of paradise.

In ‘Remember’, ‘After Death’ and ‘Song’ the theme of death is related to loss of relationships. In the poem ‘After Death’ Christina Rossetti write that the woman in the poem is talking about the man not to him. Whereas in ‘Remember’ and ‘Song’ they are speaking to their loved one about a time when they will be dead. ‘Remember’ and ‘After Death’ both link as they talk about the end of a physical relationship.