The Changing Seasons: A Song by Christina Rossetti

          The changing of the seasons have always been poetic in the motions they take. As the cycle keeps going, there is life, death, and a rebirth with every year that passes. However, there is also a human element to these changes, as Spring takes on such innocence while Fall remains all knowing of the impending death that each cycle must take. Christina Rossetti captures this natural poetry in her work “Song.”

          The poem is spoken as if the narrator is telling the story to her audience. The opening four lines “She sat and sang alway/ By the green margin of a stream/ watching the fishes leap and play/ Beneath a golden sunbeam” first tell of Spring. Here, the audience can clearly begin to picture the life that Spring takes on, as sun beams shoot down from the sky and awaken the fish as they swim upstream to create life once more. The green grass has sprouted and the songs of the season can be heard in her voice, from the tiniest bird to the babbling brook. The use of “always” at the opening also reemphasizes that this is in fact Spring, as it will always be returning within the life cycle.

The narrator then states, “I sat and wept alway/ beneath the moon’s most shadowy beam, / Watching the blossoms of the May/ Weep leaves into the stream.” Here, it is seen that the narrator is Spring’s counterpoint: Fall. Fall knows of the impending death that each life cycle must take, again by the use of “always,” and thus weeps as stated above. Fall in general takes on a saddened tone of shadows, longer nights with reduced light, and, as shown here, watches as the life that Spring brought fall into the stream that once teemed with life.

Next, the lines present a comparison of how Fall truly knows what is to come and Spring knows so little. These lines state: “I wept for memory/ She sang for hope that is so fair; / Me tears were swallowed by the sea; / Her songs died on the air.” Fall continues to weep for the memories that once were. Her knowledge is a lack of innocence which Spring still posses, as she still sings for hope. However, the life cycle will forever press on with no change, thus the narrator’s tears falling into an endless sea while Springs songs will fade into Fall’s chill air.

In this poem, Rossetti does an amazing job of humanizing the seasonal cycle. Here, we are presented not only the seasons of change but change in itself. Through her words, one can watch the seasons and gain a better understanding of the seasons of life.