The Rose That Blushes Rosy Red Analysis - Literary devices and Poetic devices

The Rose That Blushes Rosy Red

The rose that blushes rosy red,
She must hang her head;
The lily that blows spotless white,
She may stand upright.

Summary of The Rose That Blushes Rosy Red

Popularity of “The Rose That Blushes Rosy Red”: Written in 1872, by Christina Georgina Rossetti, a Victorian English poet, and writer, this brief poem presents a comparative view of two flowers. Although this is a brief comparative view of two flowers, the beauty lies not only in the rhyme scheme but also in rhythm. The popularity of the poem is because of the comparative view and its symbolical value.
“The Rose That Blushes Rosy Red” As a Representative of Comparative Positions: The poet presents two flowers. The first one is the rose flower, and the second is the lily. Both have different positions and different shapes. Whereas one is rosy red, the other is clean white. Therefore, both have different movements. The rose blushes and the lily seems spotless. Yet, they have different positions. These positions depend on symbolical meanings that one hangs her head and the other stands upright.
Major Themes in “The Rose That Blushes Rosy Red ”: Comparison of colors, and human features as symbols of these flowers are the major thematic strands of this short poem. The rose is red but actually, it shows beauty. Therefore, it hangs its head in humility. However, the lily is not only white but also upright. Whereas white is the color of innocence, the upright position is the position of honesty. Both flowers show how human beings should adopt different features to pose different positions about their attitude and life. However, the position with a hanging head shows how a person should adopt this attitude when in love, and standing upright shows how a person should stand upright when he is clean, like the white color. In both cases, the symbolic meanings do not lose their significance.

Analysis of Literary Devices Used in The Rose That Blushes Rosy Red

Christina Georgina Rossetti masterfully uses various literary devices in her poem. Some of the major literary devices she has used are as follows.

Assonance: Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /e/ in “She must hang her head” and the sound of /o/ in “The rose that blushes rosy red.”
Alliteration: Alliteration is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line in quick succession, such as the sound of /r/ in “rosy red” or /h/ in “hang her head.”
Consonance: Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds in the same line, such as the sound of /s/ in “The rose that blushes rosy red” and the sound of /h/ in “She must hang her head.”
Imagery: Imagery is used to make readers perceive things involving their five senses. Christina Georgina Rossetti used imagery in this poem, such as “The rose that blushes rosy red”, “The lily that blows spotless white” and “She may stand upright.”
Symbolism: Symbolism is using symbols to signify ideas and qualities, giving them symbolic meanings that are different from the literal meanings. The poem shows symbols, such as flowers, their colors, and their positions to show human features and their meanings.

Analysis of Poetic Devices Used in The Rose That Blushes Rosy Red

Poetic and literary devices are the same, but a few are used only in poetry. Here is an analysis of some of the poetic devices used in this poem.

Diction: It means the type of language. The poem shows good use of formal and poetic diction.
End Rhyme: End rhyme is used to make the stanza melodious. Christina Georgina Rossetti has used end rhyme in this poem such as red/head and white/upright.
Rhyme Scheme: The poem follows AABB in its stanza.
Quatrain: It is a four-lined Persian stanza. This poem is a quatrain.
Stanza: A stanza is a poetic form of some lines. This is a single-stanza poem having four verses.
Tone: It means the voice of the text. The poem shows an innocent, simple, and seductive tone.

Quotes to be Used

The following lines are useful to quote when telling the children about flowers and their colors.