The poem describes a grief-stricken narrator sitting alone in a natural setting. In his depressed state, with his head between his knees, his eyes fall upon a woodspurge flower with a distinctive three-part blossom. Though the cause of his sorrow remains unknown, this chance visual experience leaves a lasting impression and remains the "one thing...learnt" from his grief.

1. Dante Gabriel Rossetti

2. About the poet...
• Born in London on May 12, 1828 to an
English mother and Italian father.
•Rossetti demonstrated literary and artistic
talent and aspirations. One family legend has
it that in 1834 a local milkman was amazed as
he watched six-year old Gabriel creating a
drawing of a rocking horse. In 1841, Rossetti
entered the Sass's Academy art school, a
preparatory school for the art academy.
•His growing interest in and talent for poetry
sometimes left him indecisive over which
path to follow -- was he mainly a poet or a
painter?

3. Brief Introduction
Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s “The Woodspurge” is a
sixteen-line poem divided into four-line stanzas of
iambic tetrameter that describe an unidentified grief-
stricken narrator in an outdoor setting.
Why do you think the narrator is grief-stricken?
In his depressed state, the narrator undergoes an
unforeseen, but clear and intense, visual experience
of the woodspurge, a species of weed that has a
three-part blossom.

5. Although the cause of the narrator’s sorrow is never specified, the
poem was written in the spring of 1856 when Rossetti was in an
anguished state.
He was experiencing intense strife with Elizabeth (“Lizzie”) Siddal, the
chief model he had used for many of his paintings since 1850, over the
issue of her desire for marriage. (He eventually married her in 1860.)
Rossetti was also tormented at that time about relationships with
other women and with what he perceived as lost artistic opportunities.
However, nothing in the poem points to these specific issues.

7. Stanza 1
• The poem’s first stanza presents a countryside that is
geographically unspecified—an area of trees and hills—and
begins to suggest the narrator’s state of mind.
• The narrator is not walking toward a specific destination;
he moves in the direction the wind is blowing, and, once
the wind ceases, he stops and sits in the grass.
• The fact that his walking and stopping are guided merely by
the wind indicates aimlessness, passivity, and apathy.

8. Stanza 2
• The narrator’s posture in the second stanza indicates that he
feels exceedingly depressed, although there is no explanation
given for his emotional state. Sitting on the grass he is
hunched over with his head between his knees. His
depression is so severe that he cannot even groan aloud or
speak a word of grief.
What quote can be used to justify this point?
• His head is cast down, as is his soul—so much so that his hair
is touching the grass. His physical state reflects his psychic
paralysis as he remains motionless in this position for an
unspecified length of time, but long enough so that he
“hear*s+ the day pass.”

9. Stanza 3
• Although he is not trying to look around and seems
oblivious to the country setting as a whole, the
narrator remarks in the third stanza that his eyes are
“wide open,” and this important fact becomes the
inadvertent cause for his ensuing visual experience.
• From his seated position, he says there are “ten
weeds” that his eyes can “fix upon.” Out of that group,
a flowering woodspurge captures his complete
attention, and he is dramatically impressed by the
detail that it flowers as “three cups in one.”

10. Final Stanza
• The narrator attributes his depressed state to “perfect grief”
in the final stanza, but there is still no elaboration as to its
cause.
• He then comments, first, that grief may not function to bring
wisdom or insight and may not even be remembered, and,
second, implies that he himself learned nothing from his grief
that day and can no longer remember its cause.
• However, “One thing then learnt remains”: He had been
visually overwhelmed by the shape of the woodspurge, and,
consequently, its image and the fact that “The woodspurge
has a cup of three” have been vividly burned into his memory
forever.

11. Brainstorm as many techniques you can find
within this poem with evidence!
You have 5 minutes, the highest scorer will gain
5 merits!

12. Imagery
The tree, hill, grass, weeds,
and sun. The images are
simple with very little
description. It is only when
the narrator accidentally fixes
his gaze upon the
woodspurge that any specific
details come forth.
Theme
Nature Rossetti’s unadorned
presentation of nature mutes
the setting, forcing it into the
background, and causes the
narrator’s mental and
emotional state to emerge as
the central focus.
Connotation/Tone
Negative His reference in the
first stanza to the wind
having been “Shaken out
dead from tree and hill”
introduces the thought of
death, establishing a negative
tone that suggests that the
narrator’s internal state is
negative.
Tone
Negative His reference in the
first stanza to the wind
having been “Shaken out
dead from tree and hill”
introduces the thought of
death, establishing a negative
tone that suggests that the
narrator’s internal state is
negative.
Repetition
“Wind,” “Still” This
deliberate repetition of
words and of simple rhymes
also functions to maintain
the simplicity of the poem
and is consistent with its
simple imagery and
vocabulary.
Rhythm
Monosyllables functions to
express sadness or sorrow. All
but one word in the first
stanza are monosyllables,
causing the movement to be
slowed. This consistently
slowed rhythm mirrors the
narrator’s mood.

13. Individually or working in pairs, look for 3
different images and describe them in 5 lines
each.

14. • Nature
Although “The Woodspurge” has a plant’s name as its title, the
poem does not have nature, or even the woodspurge itself, as its
subject.
Nature does play an indirect role in the poem, but it is not the focus
here or in other works by Rossetti. Both in his painting and in his
poetry, the function of nature is to act as a background for the
presentation of human action and emotion.
The depiction of details from nature, although precise and accurate,
is not meant to draw attention to nature itself but to mirror a
psychic state or inner experience.

15. • Sense Perception
• Rossetti’s unadorned presentation of nature mutes the setting, forcing it
into the background, and causes the narrator’s mental and emotional
state to emerge as the central focus.
• The bare minimum of description functions to signal to the reader that the
narrator himself is oblivious to the details of his surroundings because his
mind is focused elsewhere.
• The only record of his awareness of his environment, before his dramatic
visual experience of the woodspurge, is that he walked when the wind
was blowing and that he sat when that external impetus ceased. His
reference in the first stanza to the wind having been “Shaken out dead
from tree and hill” introduces the thought of death, establishing a
negative tone that suggests that the narrator’s internal state is negative.

16. • Artistic Task
• In pairs, pick one image from the poem and
create an artistic illustration on A3 paper.
• You will present your work, highlighting what
you found interesting in it.
• I will be assessing your understanding of the
poem.