The Blessed Damozel Analysis

Symbols, Imagery, Wordplay

Form and Meter

We're just going to lay it out for you, Shmoopers: "The Blessed Damozel" is written in regular sestets, sticking close to the traditional ballad meter's alternating lines of iambic tetrameter and t...

Speaker

Usually, the question of a poem's speaker is a pretty straightforward one. You simply locate the character who is narrating the action and—bingo—you have your speaker.Initially, it seems that s...

Setting

"The Blessed Damozel" offers up three settings for the price of one—such a bargain. It's like buying one ticket but visiting three destinations. Let us explain:"Heaven," sang the Talking Heads, "...

Sound Check

In a poem running nearly 150 lines, it would be weird if there weren't any sound effects to keep our ears on their toes (if you can picture that). Luckily, "The Blessed Damozel" is no exception. It...

What's Up With the Title?

"The Blessed Damozel" is about a damozel who, as it turns out, just so happens to be blessed. Got it? Nothing more to see here? Well…not quite. This title is certainly no great mystery, but it's...

Calling Card

Much like his sister, Christina Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti was a poet who embraced religious overtones and classical forms, as evidenced by "The Blessed Damozel" and its ballad form. To that...

Tough-o-Meter

The main challenge of "The Blessed Damozel" comes in its use of old-timey Victorian language. Not too many people know what a "cithern" is, after all. Once you conquer those roadblocks, though (and...

Trivia

Dante Gabriel Rossetti had an…interesting love life. After his first wife committed suicide, he struck up a relationship with a woman who was already married—to a friend of his. (Source) Rosset...

Steaminess Rating

For a poem about two lovers, this one is actually pretty tame. They do have some time alone together (lines 79-84), but it looks like they spend that time praying instead of…you know, other stuff...

Allusions

Revelations 1:16 (6)Mary (9, 104)Revelations 22:2 (86)Holy Spirit (87)