what does the title of this poem refer to?
The title refers to the act of offering her love twice, with different outcomes.
what is the speaker of this poem?
- The male lover is cruel/careless—perhaps not mature enough for love?
- The poem suggests men are to blame for relationship failures, challenging traditional views that blame women.
- The speaker, a woman, gives her heart to a man, with themes of spiritual love and self-love.
- She is brave, willing to live or die.
what is the language of this poem?
- Many of her poems focus on forsaken women and challenge sexual double standards.
- Imagery: skylarks (happiness), refinement through fire, and cornflowers (male commitment).
what is the rhyme/form of this poem?
- Repetition emphasizes the need to repeat the act of offering love due to rejection.
- 6 stanzas, 8 lines each.
- Varied metrical rhythm.
- Amphimacer pattern: ‘O my love’ and ‘O my God’ (stressed at each end).
- First stanza rhyme scheme: ABACDBDC; variations follow.
- Rhyming fourth and eighth lines create resolution.
what is the context of this poem?
- Age 34, 1864?
- Fallen women: 1859–1870.
- Relationships: James Collinson (1850), John Ponett (1857), Charles Bagot Cayley (1864).
- Commentary on Victorian social hypocrisy or love for God? Rejection of Cayley leads to turning to God?
what are the themes of this poem?
- Loss/abandonment
- Earthly vs. divine love
- Religious faith
- Social standards, morals, and women’s roles
what are suitable pairings for this poem?
Memory
A Christmas Carol
What Would I Give
Goblin Market – themes of disappointment, sacrifice, and religion
“I took my heart in my hand/(O my love, O my love)./I said: let me fall or stand,/let me live or die,/”
- ‘I’ – agency.
- ‘O my love’ – biblical reference; courtly love expression, improper for women.
- ‘Fall’ – reference to fallen women.
- The narrator has control over her heart but remains vulnerable.
- Brackets around ‘O my love’ signal earthly love, unlike later ‘O my God’.
- ‘I said’ – caesura emphasizes the speaker’s voice.
“but this once hear me speak-/(O my love, O my love)-/yet a woman’s words are weak;/you should speak, not I.”
- Passionate but outwardly reticent.
- ‘W’ alliteration and ‘s’ sibilance push for her voice to be heard.
- Passive defiance—seemingly accepting male dominance but ending with ‘I’ gives her the last word.
“you took my heart in your hand/with a friendly smile,/with a critical eye you scanned,/then set it down,/”
- Repeats but reverses opening line—shifting power to the man.
- ‘You’ and ‘your’ place blame on him.
- ‘Critical’ – sexual double standards.
- ‘Scanned’ – condescending and dismissive.
- His outward kindness contrasts with cold analysis.
- Assonant rhyme (‘friendly smile’ / ‘critical eye’) highlights deception.
- He values beauty, objectifying her.
- ‘Set it down’ – detached, emotionless rejection.
“and said: it is still unripe/better wait awhile; wait while the skylark’s pipe,/till the corn grows brown.”
- ‘Unripe’ – could imply youth or emotional unreadiness.
- Suggests she is unsuited for earthly relationships.
- ‘It’ objectifies her.
- ‘Ripe but pure’ – proto-feminist? Sexual connotation.
- ‘Skylarks’ – foreshadow joy/singing at the end.
- ‘Corn grows brown’ – could symbolize maturity or love’s death.
“as you set it down it broke-/Broke, but I did not wince;/I smiled at the speech you spoke,/at your judgement that I heard:/”
- ‘Set it down’ – Victorian reversal; she is not weak.
- She controls her emotions, showing pride.
- ‘Broke’ – violent imagery, anadiplosis (repetition).
- ‘Judgement’ – divine or human?
“but I have not often smiled/since then, nor questioned since,/ Nor cared for corn-flowers wild,/Nor sung with the singing bird.”
- She accepts rejection with strength.
- ‘Corn-flowers wild’ – link to male commitment fading.
- ‘Singing bird’ – metaphor for happiness.
- Repetition of ‘nor’ – piling misery, a turning point.
- Sibilance reflects gradual fading of past joys.
“I take my heart in my hand,/ O my God, O my God,/My broken heart in my hand:/Thou hast seen, judge Thou./”
- Refrain variation – speaker now takes control.
- ‘O my God’ – brackets removed; spiritual love is open.
- ‘Judge Thou’ – seeks divine judgement over societal views.
“My hope was written on sand,/ O my God, O my God:/Now let thy judgement stand -/ Yea, judge me now.”
- ‘On sand’ – love was fragile and impermanent.
- Biblical reference: Matthew 7:26.
- Love washes away like tears.
- ‘Judge me now’ – willing to be vulnerable for divine justice.
“this contemned of man,/this marred one heedless day,/this heart take Thou to scan/Both within and without.”
- ‘Within and without’ – full self-exposure.
- Unlike the man, God judges deeply.
- ‘Contemned’ (scorned) and ‘marred’ (damaged) – one careless day ruined her.
“Refine with fire its gold,/purge Thou its dross away-/Yea, hold it in Thy hold,/Whence none can pluck it out.”
- Gold purified by fire – rejection burns her, but she remains pure.
- Reference to baptism (Matthew 3:11).
- ‘Dross’ – impurity in metal; purity of love tested.
“I take my heart in my hand-/I shall not die, but live-/Before Thy face I stand;/I, for Thou callest such:/”
- Frequent ‘I’ – newfound security.
- Confident, defiant language.
- Broken grammar (hyphens, colons) reflects past suffering, now leading to peace.
“All that I have bring,/All that I am I give,/Smile Thou and I shall sing,/but shall not question much.”
- ‘All’ repetition – abundant love for God.
- Triumphant sibilance contrasts past pain.
- ‘All that I have I bring,/all that I am I give’ – allusion to 19th-century marriage vows (Book of Common Prayer).
- Love for God is constant, forgiving, and accepting
