After Death by Christina Rossetti

1st Stanza:

The curtains were half drawn, the floor was swept
And strewn with rushes, rosemary, and may
Lay thick upon the bed on which I lay,
Where through the lattice ivy-shadows crept

Explanation :

Here in this stanza, the poet is saying that it is the death ceremony of the poet. People were coming to attend that ceremony. So she is describing the place where she is laid down and people are coming. She said that the room was warm and cozy. And the curtains are half drawn in there. The floor is kept clean and is swept. Furthermore when someone attends the death ceremony, usually a flower is brought to the ceremony. So people came and placed flowers over the dead ones.

So she is saying that there is a pleasant smell here which is due to the flowers of rushes, rosemary, and may. Moreover, the plenty of flowers also suggest that people are attending the ceremony and have come to see the dead woman (the poet). Furthermore, the poet explains that I was smelling the smell of flowers because the flowers were laid upon the same bed at which I was laid down dead. As mentioned earlier the curtains were half drawn so the shadow of lattice ivy was also entering the room giving it more beauty to her funeral day.

Stanza no 2:

He leaned above me, thinking that I slept
And could not hear him, but I heard him say,
‘Poor child, poor child’: and as he turned away
Came a deep silence, and I knew he wept

Explanation :

Now the 2nd stanza starts when her lover approaches the funeral of her. He also came to attend the death ceremony. When the lover of the poet approaches her, he leans at her and comes closer to her. When the lover leaned upon her, he was thinking that the poet was sleeping. And as the poet is sleeping, she would hear nothing. But the poet explained that I heard my lover say “Poor child poor child “.

These are the words that when someone attends a death ceremony, words are such as “poor child, poor child” ‘he or she was a good man or woman” or ‘rest in peace”. The next explanation could be that the poet was expecting more from his lover than that not just these words and she expresses her feelings here and shows us that the lover is being very cruel to her. And the sleep here refers to the eternal sleep means the death that she is dead.

Furthermore, she is saying that as he(her lover) leaned upon me and uttered the words, he turned back and was going back to his world and while turning back there was a deep silence but deep down I(the writer) know that her lover cried. Now the writer did not know why her lover cried. It may be that someone die, there is a feeling of sorrow for the dead human, or that he was also in love with the poet.

Stanza No 3:

He did not touch the shroud, or raise the fold
That hid my face, or take my hand in his,
Or ruffle the smooth pillows for my head:
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.

Explanation :

Here in the last stanza the poet is describing her lover as being very cruel to her and has no feelings for her even when she is dead and she is complaining about his cruelty. She is saying that as I was dead and was wearing the traditional death clothes, my lover did not even bother to touch the shroud that I was wearing and did not even raise the fold to see my face for the very last time that was hidden under the fold.

Furthermore, she is complaining that neither my lover has seen my face nor he even took my hand in his hand. He has not taken her hand in his hands because taking hand in hand-is a sign of love. But she is saying that I loved him but not him. That’s why he did not take her hand in his hands. Furthermore, she is explaining the cruelty of her lover that he didn’t even make me comforted at the last moment (dead) and that he did not arrange the pillow under my hand which would have made me comfortable.

The last lines of the poem are very interesting and the best lines of mine. The poet is saying that I was in love with my beloved very much and that even though I’m dead, I am writing that poem about my lover and describing him. I was and I am in love with him but as far as I was alive he did not love me back and did not give me attention at all.

But now I am gone from this world and I am dead, but one thing happened which is good for me and is very sweet that when I was alive, my lover had no feelings for me, not of love not of anything, but now I am dead and at least he is having a feelings for me. Though it is of pity, they are feelings as well. I am dead now and a dead human has no feelings so I have become cold because I am dead and have no feelings but he is alive and is warm and has a feeling of pity for me.