“Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde” Summary

“Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde” Themes

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  The Pain and Futility of Desire

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde”

• Lines 1-3

  I have desired, and I have been desired;
  But now the days are over of desire,
  Now dust and dying embers mock my fire;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 4-5

  Where is the hire for which my life was hired?
  Oh vanity of vanities, desire!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 6-10

  Longing and love, pangs of a perished pleasure,
  Longing and love, a disenkindled fire,
  And memory a bottomless gulf of mire,
  And love a fount of tears outrunning measure;
  Oh vanity of vanities, desire!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 11-15

  Now from my heart, love's deathbed, trickles, trickles,
  Drop by drop slowly, drop by drop of fire,
  The dross of life, of love, of spent desire;
  Alas, my rose of life gone all to prickles,—
  Oh vanity of vanities, desire!

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 16-18

  Oh vanity of vanities, desire;
  Stunting my hope which might have strained up higher,
  Turning my garden plot to barren mire;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 19-20

  Oh death-struck love, oh disenkindled fire,
  Oh vanity of vanities, desire!

  

  

  

  

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“Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Parallelism

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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“Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde” 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.

• Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde
• The hire
• Disenkindled
• Gulf
• Fount
• Dross
• Stunting
• Barren
• Death-struck

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde”

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• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde” Speaker

“Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde”

More “Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde” Resources

• External Resources

  • Louise de La Vallière — Learn more about the woman through whom Rossetti speaks in this poem.

  • A Biography of the Poet — Read about Christina Rossetti's life and career in this Poetry Foundation article.

  • More on Rossetti — Find a wealth of Rossetti resources at the Victorian Web.

  • A Pageant and Other Poems — View the Library of Congress's digitized copy of Rossetti's fourth poetry collection, in which this poem was first published.  

  • The Works of Soeur Louise — In her years at the convent, Louise de La Valliere wrote about God, virtue, and passion; read more about her writings at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

• 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 an Artist's Studio

  • 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

  • Some ladies dress in muslin full and white

  • Song (When I am dead, my dearest)

  • Twice

  • Up-Hill

  • Winter: My Secret