Poem Reviews: After Death (by: Christina Rossetti)

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.

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.

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 pitted me; and very sweet it is

To know he still is warm though I am cold.

Description:

The theme described in this poem are death and tragic love, and the afterlife.

In the first stanza, there is the description of the floor and of the bed, where she lays, she is immobile, her body is covered by rosemary and rushes,   she seems death, but in reality, she is sleeping. Her loved one, believes that she cannot listen him, he takes care of her through his words,  and then he cries for her.

In the last stanza she is dead, her husband don't touch her, not for insensibility, but because, he has now discovered to love her.

Their "terrestrial love" is now finished, probably their love will blossom in the afterlife, and it will be immortal.