Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A DIRGE by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHY WERE YOU BORN WHEN THE SNOW WAS FALLING?
Last Line: FOR SWEET THINGS DYING.
Subject(s): DEATH; FLOWERS; SPRING; DEAD, THE;
Why were you born when the snow was falling?
You should have come to the cuckoo's calling,
Or when grapes are green in the cluster,
Or, at least, when lithe swallows muster
For their far off flying
From summer dying.

Why did you die when the lambs were cropping?
You should have died at the apples' dropping,
When the grasshopper comes to trouble,
And the wheat-fields are sodden stubble,
And all winds go sighing
For sweet things dying.



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