The Woodspurge Summary Essay

Submitted By Romil-y
Words: 528
Pages: 3

The Woodspurge

The poet begins the poem with linking place and mood. The wind is loose and flighty and then is still; this contrast is established in the first line. The wind is described as “shaken out dead”. This might suggest the wind lifts dead leaves or perhaps that the wind itself is sometimes high and sometimes dead. The poet HAS walked where the wind takes him and NOW sits still.

The second stanza describes the exact position of the sitting poet. His foreheadhead is between his knees, his hair is on the grass and his naked ears (perhaps suggesting openness or vulnerability … or simply that his ears are exposed while the rest of his head is downwards). The 2nd line is interesting “My lips, drawn in, said not “Alas”. Although it suggests he is NOT complaining or despairing, it does raise the idea, as if it might be expected that he is in a state of grief. “heard the day pass” suggests the passage of time while he remains still.

Stanza 3 continues the list of what various parts of his head are doing (!). his ears are open to the day passing and his eyes in contrast are not focused outwards but downwards, oerhaps suggesting the difference between the outer world and the inner world created by the tent-like effect of his sitting position. He can see a few wild flowers (weeds suggests something plain, random, valueless). The woodspurge flowers in a sheltered spot. “three cups in one” is a particular observation of this very specific flower: there is a cup-like petal and on that green cup are two more.

Stanza 4 does not suggest a changed life after his encounter with the flower (possibly a direct contrast with Romantic poetry, which often suggested that encounters with Nature could change your life. Rosetti himself has also written other poems where he finds in Nature many things including solace/comfort. He begins by stepping aside form his