What would I give

The title ‘What would I give?’ immediately gives the reader an insight into how the speaker is feeling, as the rhetorical question suggests that Rossetti is reflecting on what she would sacrifice in order for a better gain.

The rhetorical question also allows the reader to reflect and enables them to empathise with the speaker as the use of the personal pronoun ‘I’ creates a personal connection between the reader and the poem and enables them to think on what they may need to do in their life for a desired result.

"What would i give for a heart of flesh to warm me thro', / instead of this heart of stone ice cold whatever I do"

The speaker is referring to a biblical passage in Eziekiel when asking ‘What would I give for a heart of flesh,’  this may inform that reader that the speaker is reflecting on God’s desires and not her own as God wants the ‘heart of stone’ to be replaced with the ‘heart of flesh.’ The heart of stone is sin, and it appears that Rossetti is questioning how much she would "give" and sacrifice in order to meet God’s expectations, which implies that she feels she needs God in her life in order to to be "warm" and fullfilled highlighting the notion that in order to be happy her relationship with God is compulsory. "Whatever I do" implies that she has tried giving her all to God but has not recieved comfort

"Hard and cold and small, of all hearts the worst of all"

This stanza creates a tension and implies that other hearts are "warm" as unlike the speaker give into earthly pleasures that bring them joy. It also implies that the speaker is cruel and "cold" but due to the regretfull tone she is aware of this and suffers because of it.

“What would I give for words, if only words would come;”

This creates an atmosphere of a person calling out to God in their time of need. However, "if only" implies that the words that this narrator speaks is never enough for them to be forgiven by God, even when they wish they were.

"But now in its misery my spirit has fallen dumb"

Their spirit is no longer savable and has fallen lifeless to the ground. The narrator knows that their spirit no longer has happiness connected to it, creating a death-like scene. The last line in this stanza, this line also implies a disconnect between the speaker and their "spirit" emphasising the speakers stuggles with enuciation and suggesting that without eartly pleasures the speaker is lifeless and without a spirit

“O merry friends, go your way, I have never a word to say”

By stating that their friends are "merry" it further implies how the speaker is "cold" and lonley without the joy of earthly pleasures. By stating that they "never" have a word to say suggests that have forgotten to how to enjoy eartly pleasures and communicate with their friends because of the struggle to accept the "heart of flesh" from God.

Throughout this part, the readers can notice a sense of disgust that this person has with themselves. The line, “What would I give for tears, not smiles but scalding tears,”highlights the persons want to become someone they are not. The use of “scalding tears” emphasizes the fact that this person feels the need to punish themselves because they know the sins they have done, and know they are not forgivable. They don’t want normal tears, nor do they want smiles, but specifically “scalding tears”.

The use of “scalding” reminds readers of heat, relating to Hell. This allows us as readers to assume the narrator knows that is where they belong. The use of “black” highlights death, darkness, and sins. Using the word “clean” right after shows that they wish to be cleaned of all their sins. The poem has a quite a dark tone which creates irony because of the link to God.  

The repetition of ‘wash’ shows the continuous purgation Rossetti feels she needs, because God cannot stand sin. The dark tone with adjectives such as ‘scalding tears’ show that a walk with God is much more complicated. The "Black mark could be a literal refernce to the black ashen cross made on the forehead during Christian rituals, this suggests that the speaker feels as though they are socially outcast due to their pursuit in enunciation and avoiding spiritual damnation.

There are three stanzas and each stanza is three lines and based on its clear link to religion, one could argue that Rossetti representing the Holy Trinity.

Rossetti constantly mentions the heart and in Christianity being in a relationship with the Holy Trinity enables you to have that ‘heart of flesh,’ and not a heart ‘hard and cold and small.’

Alternatively, each stanza being three lines could also be Rossetti showing how simple it should be to sacrifice.

Rossetti desires to be ‘clean again’ and knows how simple it is for God to cleanse her. The fact that there are varying sentence lengths however, may suggest that Rossetti knows repentance and being pure is not as simple as she may desire it to be.

She asks ‘What would I give?’ but we never know if she actually is cleansed of all iniquities, and the fact that her ‘spirit has fallen dumb’ implies that she is still struggling with her relationship with God.

Each stanza follows a AAB rhyme scheme, the regularity implies that the speaker is atempting to make sense and normalise their struggles with enunciation, however, as the final line of each stanza does not rhyme, it implies that there is a disconnect with the speaker and God.

This is emphasised through the internal rhyme of the final lines in each stanza which creates a sense of claustripobia, showing the struggle and difficulty the speaker faces with enunciation.