Twice

The title ‘Twice’ has an ambiguous meaning, but it is implied Rossetti is referring to two loves with the first love being a man- (‘O my love’), (‘O my love’) and the second and only necessary love being God (O my God)

"I took my heart in my hand"

Grahpic and intense language is used to show the romantic gesture of love and implies that the speaker is passionate. A victorian readership would view this passion negatively as it implies that the speaker is uncontrolled. The speakers passion, as a woman, goes against the the submissive and controlled demure that a woman in Victorian society should present herself as. The past tense of "took" suggests that human and romantic love is short lived and is not as fullfilling and long lasting as divine love which is what a religous readership in the Victorian era would have believed

"( O my love, O my love)"

'O' indicates passion and 'my' indicates possesion and intimacy. This is juxtaposed by the fact that this refrain is kept within brackets suggesting a sense of supression and implies that this instance of human love should be kept hidden.

"Let me fall or stand, / let me live or die"

These are contrasting phrases sugegsting that the speaker views human love as confusing and uncertain, impling that there is certainty and saftey in divine love.

"Yet a woman's words are weak; / you should speak not I."

The narrator is, on the face of it, handing control to the man, conforming to the social norm that men have power over women. Her tone could be sincere, or perhaps bitter.

She clearly shows that she wants to speak in this stanza and wants to be heard. This drive is diminished by the end of the stanza where she seems to repeat what the man says – she says that a woman’s words are weak, a belief that forces her to abandon that hope she just presented.

Yet, there is a passive defiance underlying the stanza. She seems accepting the prevailing attitude, that men should have control, but by ending the stanza with ‘I’, she gives herself the last word.

Note the rhyming of the fourth and eighth lines, a distant rhyme that creates a sense of unity. The control in composition echoes the controlled girl coping with heart-ache.

"You took my heart in your hand"

The speaker's: ‘I took my heart in my hand' becomes the beloved's: ‘You took my heart in your hand' (line 9). The switch from ‘I' to ‘You' indicates the speaker's loss of self-possession, allowing her beloved to take over her emotions, feelings and well-being. There is also a switch from the conversation being in the speakers control to being in the mans control. Rossetti is reflecting the Victorian notion that men are superior to women and should be in charge of their actions. The repition of taking the speakers "heart" in their "hand"s reinforces the notion that this is a difficult feat for the speaker. In Victorian society, women were not meant to be the woer's, they were expected to be wooed by the man. This poem is a reverse of this.

"With a friendly smile, / with a critical eye you scanned"

It is said that if a smile is false if does not meet the eyes. Here we see an example of this. The man appears to be kind, when in fact he is coldly analysing her heart.

Note the assonant internal rhyme of ‘friendly smile’ and ‘critical eye’. The mismatch between internal feelings and outward words emphasises the overt passion and uncontrollable nature that human love was viewed as in Victorian society.

"Then set it down/ And said: It is still unripe"

This can be linked to fertility, in that the narrator being ‘unripe’ means that she is not old enough. It could also mean that the man does not perceive her to be sufficiently emotionally developed.

Yet there is a deeper meaning in that he perceives her, correctly, to be unsuited for commitment to something worldly like a relationship with a man and marriage. As later shown, she belongs to God. This reflects how in Victorian society, men had the upmost control. The text draws attention to the double standards in Victorian society, the speaker in "unripe" due to their relationship but the man is free to have other relationships and marry. In Victorian society, women were expected to be sexually repressed, whereas for men, it was not outwardly celebrated but it was not heavily frowned upon either.

"Better wait a while; / Wait while the sklarks pipe"

Skylarks represent happiness. This could be an intertextual reference to Shelley's "Skylark" where the bird suggests freedom and joy. The fact that the speaker has to "wait awhile" shows that the narrator is clearly not at this stage of liberation, this is emphasised by the repetition of ‘wait’.

"As you set it down it broke - / Broke but I did not wince;"

Again, the speaker projects outwardly the opposite of what she feels. So she smiles despite her broken heart.

The imagery of her heart being broken as it is ‘set down’ is very powerful. Even more powerful is the fact that she ‘did not wince’. Significantly, she inverts the expectations of Victorian society, where women were said to be feeble and emotional. Here the speaker is self-controlled. There is a suggestion of pride that she can overcome her feelings. The repition of broke highlights the destructiveness of the action.

This is further highlighted through:

• Having the same word end one line and start the next, whereby the speaker draws attention to the disruption and hurt that her beloved caused and the sudden pain of having something break
• The dash, which draws attention to the sudden standstill that occurs to the beat of her heart when it breaks
• The opening trochee of the next line, disrupts the poem's continuous rhythm that reflects the physical heart's-action as it pumps blood around the body.

"But I have not often smiled / since then, nor questioned since, Nor cared for cornflowers wild"

The speaker deals with her disappointment by the fact that she has ‘not questioned’ since. She has accepted the refusal with fortitude.

The ‘corn-flowers wild’ grow in fields of crops and are destroyed at harvest time. This could be an echo of the line at the end of stanza two, ‘Till the corn grows brown.’

In folklore, cornflowers were worn by young men in love; if the flower faded too quickly, it was taken as a sign that the man’s love was not returned.

"Nor sung with the singing bird"

Rossetti presents the dangers of human love, as the rejection has left her very unhappy, shown through the fact that she no longer sings or smiles.

"I take my heart in my hand"

The speaker now exerts her own control in a variation on the refrain at the beginning of each ot the stanzas. Showing how the speaker belives divine love is more powerful than human love.

"O my God, O my God"

By replacing ‘love' for ‘God' in the second half of the poem, the speaker emphasises the fact that her priorities have shifted. Rather than seek to please a male beloved, she demonstrates that her primary concern is to please God.

The fact that the cry ‘O my love' is enclosed within brackets, indicating a side thought, whereas the cry ‘O my God' stands alone, indicates that whereas the speaker's beloved was only a part of her life, she makes God relevant to her whole life. There is no need to enclose her cry to God in brackets because it has become a part of who she is.

"My hope was written on the sand"

Human love is impermenant, as sand is easily moved and washed away. But as it is in past tense "was" implies that now with God her hope and future are more secure.

"Now let thy judgment stand - / yea judge me now."

She asks God to judge, an indication perhaps of her own self-doubt about the relationship, and of her relief to place her future in something sure and unwavering, her religious faith.

"This contemned of a man, / This marred one heedless day, / This heart take Thou to scan"

Here ‘contemned’ means to scorn. She has been scorned by a man on one ‘heedless day;, but now she is offering her heart to God. Her language has become more complex, a modern readership may interpret this as the speaker secretly wanting the simplicity of human love.

"Refine with fire its gold, / Purge Thou its dross away,-- / Yea, hold it in Thy hold, / Whence none can pluck it out."

Gold is often burnt in order to remove impurities. Although the speaker has been burned by rejection, she still remains pure. It is also a reference to baptism. The fierceness of the speaker’s belief is made clear. Anything worldly, like rejected earthly love, is ‘dross’. This indicates that God’s love is permanent, unlike the temporary romantic love she had for the man. When you love God, you cannot love someone else. Rossetti never married. There were two men that she came close to marrying, but rejected them for religious reasons. The imagery of holding and hands is continued, but the power is now with God. The word ‘pluck’ has significance, notably in the Confessions of Saint Augustine, where he says ‘O Lord thou pluck'st me out’. Here, the speaker’s heart is safe with God, and ‘none can pluck it out’

"I take my heart in my hand,--  shall not die, but live,--"

The speaker once more reprises the opening line and takes her heart in her hand. But she is confident, because her heart is protected by God. This reflect the "let me live or die" in stanza 1. With divine love, the speaker is certain and secure. This line links to the afterlife. With God’s love, her soul will live eternally in heaven.

"Before Thy face I stand; / I, for Thou callest such / All that I have I bring, / All that I am I give, / Smile Thou and I shall sing,"

Her submission to God is absolute, a form of strength and power. The reference to the skylark is resolved in terms of the last ‘I shall sing’.

"But shall not question much"

. Here she is submitting to God. In stanza three where she says ‘nor questioned since’, she submits to her rejection. Here she has no need to question. Her devotion to God is her strength. Here we see parallels between romantic love and religious devotion, that both involve obedience. Romantic love for a woman involves obedience to a man. Obedience to God, however, is seen as positive and a form of power.

The "much" implies that she will question religion, which suggests that divine love is not as strong as she is not satisfied with a life of renunciation and giving up earthly pleasures.

The rhyme scheme of the first, second, third, fifth and sixth stanzas runs aba, cd, bd, c. Its regularity reflects the control that the speaker attempts to keep over her own heart and indicates her grasp over her own emotions. However, in the fourth stanza the rhyme of l. 1 and 3 is repeated in l. 5 and 7. By introducing a slight alternation here, Rossetti reflects the shift in the speaker's ideas. Having regained her own heart, she voices her determination to present it to God.

Strong masculine rhymes are used throughout which increase the definition with which the poem is read and highlight the speaker's passion. In addition, rhyming words highlight certain ideas. For instance, in the final verse, by linking the words ‘live' and ‘give' through rhyme (lines 42, 46), she emphasises the suggestion that it is only by giving her own heart to God that the speaker is able to truly live.

Form

The form of Twice is regular with each stanza being 8 lines and Rossetti may be highlighting the basic elements of Victorian society as well as the theme of religion. ‘Yet a woman’s words are weak’ shows the futility of women’s expression, as the Victorian era was patriarchal with women being presented as the gender solely needed for reproduction in society.  Nevertheless, Rossetti comes to the realisation that the ‘contemned’ love of man is not worth it and has ‘nor questioned since’ her love with God, because as Literary critic Joshua Bocher stated, Rossetti is aware ‘God is always present’ and ‘love for God always trumps the love of another human.’  Rossetti may believe everyone in society should feel the same way because she is a devout Christian,and therefore uses a simple regular structure to portray this view.

Metre

The metre of the poem often draws attention to certain sounds which, in turn, reflect particular feelings and emotions. For instance, the O sound is stressed in the first two lines to emphasise the speaker's sense of loss and emptiness:

I took my heart in my hand
  (O my love, O my love) (lines 1-2)

Comprised of two iambic feet followed by an anapaest, the rhythmic stresses in the first line all fall on vowel sounds. The rising rhythm of both the iamb and the anapaest means that the poem introduces a note of speed from the dramatic opening.

An amphimacer is the poetic term for a three-syllable foot arranged with a stress at each end. If the exclamation ‘O' is to be read as a stressed syllable, then the phrase, ‘O my love' could arguably be described as an amphimacer.