After Death

In the poem After Death, Christina Rossetti addresses common themes of the time period of death and tragic love. The tone of most subjects at this time where that of the male perspective but Rossetti offered a different view on the subject as a female perspective. She uses many action verbs to describe a deceased woman as a feeling human. For example, even though she is deceased, the woman feels, hears, and sees her admirer’s grief. As she writes, the narrator "heard him say, 'Poor child, poor child," "knew that he wept," and perceived his strong love for her, which did not show until after her death. Instead of portraying women as objects of desire, Rossetti, gives her a voice, feelings, and thoughts. Rossetti was making a feminist statement for the time period of which how poetry was written in a more male perspective and male dominance of their behavior on death of a loved one. She uses more forceful verbs to illustrate the male subject in the poem, creating a typical reaction of death. She then says: “He did not love me living; but once dead He pitied me; and very sweet it is To know he still is warm though I am cold.”
Creating a voice for the women and stating that the man sentiment of the man was tenderer when she passed. As if her death creates a since of power over the male subject, this creates a dominance over his character even though she is dead. It takes on a whole new way writing about death and tragic love of the time period of typical poems. Rossetti not only creates a living female perspective of the deceased subject but creates power and dominance over the male which at the time was unheard of at the time.