![]() The first two sonnets describe a woman's waiting for her beloved to arrive. Whereas Dante Gabriel arrives at this dilemma by demonstrating a breakdown in far-flung and chaotic symbolism, Christina deduces her death wish with ruthless logic, and precise Biblical references. The narrator constantly describes images of "not remembering,""not waking,"and ultimately "not living." This constant negation results in "Monna Innominata"'s beginning at a point which surfaces only halfway through The House of Life namely, the narrator discovers that her longing to achieve love results in an actual death wish. This expression of self-inflicted denial finds expression in an astounding number of negative constructions throughout the sonnets. The first sonnet begins:Ĭome back to me, who wait and watch for you: While Christina undoubtably recognizes Browning's great talent, she nevertheless suggests that Elizabeth Barrett's happy marriage to Robert Browning, has necessarily robbed her poetry of a certain "feeling"and has allowed her to embrace the "fancy"of a male-dominated tradition of sonnets.Ĭhristina's focus on denial and deferred gratification is reflected immediately in her syntax. Or had the Great Poetess of our own day and nation only been unhappy instead of happy, her circumstances would have invited her to bequeath to us, in lieu of the "Portugese Sonnets,"an inimitable "donna innominata"drawn not from fancy, but from feeling. Indeed, through a comparison of herself to Elisabeth Barrett Browning, Christina suggests that a sense of unfulfilled desire is more important to her project than even poetic talent. Though this attribution may or may not be literally true, it is nonetheless evident that denial and longing are crucial to the project of "Monna Innominata". In her preface, Christina deliberately sets forth a situation in which the lovers of her sonnets face "a barrier between them"which is "held sacred by both, yet not such as to render mutual love incompatible with mutual honour." Some literary historians have deduced from this statement that Christina Rossetti is herself the ""Monna Innominata""of her sequence they have assumed that the sonnets recored Christina's love for Charles Cayley, whom she decloned to marry because of differences in their religious views. The most dramatic difference is that while The House of Life focuses on love which is attained and later regretted, "Monna Innominata" concentrates on unattained, though not unrequited love. However, it is impossible to read "Monna Innominata" as merely Christina Rossetti's incarnation of her brother's female literary creations, for there are important thematic differences between the two works. Therefore, Christina proposes a hypothetical situation in which a woman who "shares her lover's poetic aptitude""speaks for herself." "Monna Innominata" is an explicit attempt to correct this ludicrous literary tradition. Therefore, they have "charms,"but no "attractiveness,"since it is impossible to reconstruct the mutual attraction between these "donne innominate"and their male admirers. ![]() ![]() However, as Christina indicates, these women "have come down to us resplendent wich charms, but (at least, to my apprehension) scant of attractiveness." In other words, though the physical beauty of women idealized in sonnets such as those which comprise The House of Life is painstakingly chronicled, these women rarely receive the opportunity to speak directly to the reader. Indeed, in brief prose introduction to the sonnets, Christina refers to a male literary tradition of the glorification of women. Therefore, it is tempting to read Christina's sonnet sequence as a response to her brother's. Hristina Rossetti's "Monna Innominata" was first published in 1881, the same year in which Dante Gabriel's The House of Life appeared in its entirety.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |