“In an Artist's Studio” Introduction

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“In an Artist's Studio” Summary

“In an Artist's Studio” Themes

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  Art and Objectification

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “In an Artist's Studio”

• Lines 1-2

  One face looks out from all his canvases,
  One selfsame figure sits or walks or leans:

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 3-4

  We found her hidden just behind those screens,
  That mirror gave back all her loveliness.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  A queen in opal or in ruby dress,
  A nameless girl in freshest summer-greens,
  A saint, an angel—every canvas means
  The same one meaning, neither more or less.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-10

  He feeds upon her face by day and night,
  And she with true kind eyes looks back on him,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-12

  Fair as the moon and joyful as the light:
  Not wan with waiting, not with sorrow dim;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-14

  Not as she is, but was when hope shone bright;
  Not as she is, but as she fills his dream.

  

  

  

  

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“In an Artist's Studio” Symbols

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  The Paintings

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“In an Artist's Studio” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Caesura

  

  

  

  

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• End-Stopped Line

  

  

  

  

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• Personification

  

  

  

  

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• Asyndeton

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Simile

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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“In an Artist's Studio” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Canvases
• Selfsame
• Screens
• Wan

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “In an Artist's Studio”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“In an Artist's Studio” Speaker

“In an Artist's Studio” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “In an Artist's Studio”

More “In an Artist's Studio” Resources

• External Resources

  • Rossetti's Life and Work — Read the Poetry Foundation's short biography of Rossetti, and find links to more of her poems.

  • The Poem Aloud — Listen to the poem read aloud—and see an image of one of the paintings Rossetti may have had in mind as she wrote. Rossetti's brother, the painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, initially modeled this painting on his mistress, Fanny Cornforth—and later painted over her face to make her look like another woman, Alexa Wilding!

  • Pre-Raphaelite Models — Read up on the lives of the Pre-Raphaelite models, women sometimes known as the "Stunners."

  • Gender and Power in Rossetti's Poetry — Read an article from the British Library on Rossetti's pioneering feminist vision.

  • Pre-Raphaelite Women — Read a review of an exhibit about women in the Pre-Raphaelite movement, which quotes "In an Artist's Studio."

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Christina Rossetti

  • A Birthday

  • An Apple Gathering

  • At Home

  • Babylon the Great

  • Cousin Kate

  • Echo

  • From the Antique

  • Good Friday

  • In the Round Tower at Jhansi, June 8, 1857 (Indian Mutiny)

  • Maude Clare

  • No, Thank You, John

  • Piteous my rhyme is

  • Remember

  • Shut Out

  • Sister Maude

  • Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde

  • Some ladies dress in muslin full and white

  • Song (When I am dead, my dearest)

  • Twice

  • Up-Hill

  • Winter: My Secret