Amen by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

Ideas

The use of the harvest as a reflection on life
The glory of Autumn and its fruitfulness being over. Everything must come to an end. "Nay, now much is over truly".
Reflection of harvest on man's hard work, we have to work in order to survive, "Harvest days we toiled sow for".
The passing of time and it's unfulfilled promise "lives are finished; time diminished".
"All suffices reckoned rightly", showing we have to accept the cards we are dealt.
"Nay, now much is over truly!", everything coming to an end.
The religious acceptance of death.

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The title "Amen", means so bit it, used at the end of a prayer
At the beginning of each stanza Christina Rossetti starts off with a rhetorical question. e.g. "It is over. What is over?". This is then answered in the lines that follow
Repetition is used in order to emphasise it's time of reckoning. "Its is finished. What is finished?", Lines 4-5, repetition of "Now" emphasise point and it shows the first stanza is also in the present tense.
The use of compound adjectives are used in order to suggest a lack of something "unsown", and "unblown".
Lines 14-17 are a biblical allusion.
- Christ- crown of thorns
- Garden of Eden
- Suggesting rewards may be few on Earth - but in heaven there is eternal happiness

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Uses the harvest as a reflection on life, and in order to emphasise a point.
Image of a harvest "sheaves...gathered", "wheat...garnered".
She also uses nature as a metaphor of life.
The image of a fruitfulness season with words such as "garden teem with spices".
Visual sense of disappointment and resignation in the first stanza showing that the best is over.
The second stanza shows the passing of seasons. Autumn --> Winter, shows the crops are dying, and everything is over "known or unknown".
Hier of optimism as Winter -->Spring, and the sun begins to shine "sun shine brightly".
"Roses", shows a delight that life is beginning again like a re-birth and the crops and animals will once again come out.
The third stanza also shows that it is going to be full of life and natures smells "And my garden teem with spices".

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Cyclical structure to reflect life, beginning, middle, and end. Shown by using the image of a field, and this will repeat till the end of time.
Rhyme scheme is ABABB, CDCDD, and EFEFFE
Stanza 1 - something is over
Stanza 2 - something is over, will it always by like this?
Stanza 3 - I can cope with it, "it suffices", good will come after bad

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