Analysis Of A Smile And A Sigh

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In Rossetti 's poetry the themes Love, death and religious belief are inseparable. This can be seen through three key poems. The poem 'A Smile and a Sigh ' expresses different aspects of love and it could be suggested that it demonstrates different viewpoints of love. This wouldn 't be unexpected as Rossetti experienced different relationships from heartbreak/loneliness and unwanted love. In addition, Rossetti demonstrates the theme of religious belief through the poem 'Up-Hill ' where Rossetti proclaimed that she (or others) relied on religion. Rossetti talking about this in her poems wouldn 't be uncommon as she grew up in an era where religion was a huge part of peoples ' lives and many devoted themselves to god. Finally, the poem 'Sweet Death ' represents the theme of death by describing the way people lose their beauty and it being a sign that they are aging and close to death.

In the poem 'A Smile and a Sigh ', Rossetti uses two stanzas that could demonstrate the different viewpoints of love or that love has two different side to it. Rossetti uses sibilance on the first line which can be seen through the quotation 'smile because the nights are short '. Using sibilance demonstrates the sounds that are heard within a relationship and the 's ' sound could convey the whispers of 'sweet nothings '. The adjective 'short ' within the phrase maybe referring to the dark and lonely times that are felt during the night and the shorter the nights are, the less amount of

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