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A Short Analysis of Christina Rossetti’s ‘Winter: My Secret’ | Interesting Literature

The harsh Russian winters have helped to defeat invaders such as Napoleon. In , he sent his armies into Russia in an attempt to invade. Many died because of the freezing conditions. As a result, he had to withdraw his troops from the country.

With flowers blossoming, fruit ripening and animals giving birth, spring is considered as a period of new life. However, the speaker voices her distrust in the season. Recognising the transient and fleeting nature of spring, she realises that it can't be relied upon:. The fact that flowers, which have the potential to bring joy in May, can wither after just one frost points to the notion that the pleasures derived from nature can be short-lived.

Winter: My Secret by Christina Rossetti

In view of the lethargy that the summer weather gives rise to, she suggests that the season is the one in which her secret is most likely to be revealed. Throughout her poetry, Rossetti associates the singing of birds with divine inspiration and joy. With this in mind, the diminishment of the bird songs in Winter: My Secret can be associated with the lack of divine inspiration, natural activity and pure expression.

Clothing and disguise - Whilst veils, cloaks and wraps line 12 may protect the speaker from the fierce and biting winds of the winter season, they also serve to hide her from curious onlookers who seek to find out her secret. The door and hallway - The speaker uses the metaphor of enquirers knocking on a front door as they seek to gain entry into her innermost thoughts. She extends the image by describing the vulnerability she would experience as that felt when cold winds penetrate into the hallway:.

This stands in marked image to the motif of the door being opened in many other of Rossetti's poems. Holding a secret in the face of persistent enquiry implies a strong sense of self for the person who does so.

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This suggests that the speaker encloses her secret within her own individual identity and that nothing can break through and disturb the concealed interior. Nonsense was the poem's title in the manuscript version and hints at the playfulness of the speaker's tone. She suggests that her reticence to share her secret is a direct result of the reader's curiosity.


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In Goblin Market , Rossetti highlights the dangers of curiosity when she suggests that it was Laura's own curiosity that caused her downfall. In her later book of devotional prose, The Face of the Deep , Rossetti warns her readers against curiosity, which she perceives as a sin and compares to obedience. Christina Rossetti, selected poems Poems for study Winter: My Secret' - Imagery, symbolism and themes.

L ' - Synopsis and commentary More on the identity of L. More on the connection between Rossetti and L. L ' - Language, tone and structure 'L.

Study tools and advice

The teasing tone of the speaker as she threatens to reveal a secret and then decides to keep it concealed from the reader has puzzled readers and critics since the poem's first publication. Christina Rossetti, selected poems Poems for study Winter: My Secret' - Synopsis and commentary. L ' - Synopsis and commentary More on the identity of L.

Christina Rossetti - Winter : My Secret

More on the connection between Rossetti and L. L ' - Language, tone and structure 'L. My Secret' - Synopsis and commentary 'Winter: My Secret' - Language, tone and structure 'Winter: My secret What do you associate with the idea of secrets? How does this poem meet these associations? What do you associate with the idea of winter?

Winter My Secret

How does the poem meet these associations? Describe how the poem links the idea of secrets to the idea of winter. My secret What difficulties could potentially arise from reading the poem in a purely biographical context?