Echo
Poetry
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Christina Rossetti
Echo Poem
Echo
Christina Rossetti (1830–1894)
Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years.
Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,
Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brimfull of lo...
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Echo Summary
Background
Christina Rossetti’s poem Echo has a deeply personal and emotional background. Although Rossetti experienced several relationships in her life, none of them reached fulfillment. Her first love was with James Collinson, an artist and a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Though their relationship grew into deep affection, it eventually ended because of religious differences. Rosset...
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Echo Themes
Love: Deep love lies at the center of the poem Echo. The speaker still remembers her lost beloved with the same intensity as before. She wishes the beloved would return in dreams so they could share closeness again, “pulse for pulse, breath for breath.” Even though she has lost the beloved in real life, the pull of love has not faded. This love sometimes brings her peace, and sometimes fills her w...
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Echo Characters
The Poet or Speaker: The speaker of the poem is a person living in deep loneliness. She is someone who has lost her past beloved but still lives under the pull of those memories. She longs for that love to return, whether at night or in dreams. Her heart carries long waiting, intense longing, and the hope of reunion. Her broken heart, attachment to the past, and desire to see the beloved even in d...
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Echo Literary Devices
Figures of Speech
Simile
Definition: A simile is a figure of speech that compares two different things using “like” or “as.”
Example: “Eyes as bright / as sunlight on a stream”
Explanation: Here, the beloved’s eyes are compared to sunlight shining on flowing water. The use of “as” makes it a direct simile.
Effect: It creates a vivid picture in the reader’s mind of brightness, softness, an...
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Notes
Explore 3 detailed notes related to Echo. Each note provides in-depth analysis, explanations, and critical insights.