Echo of Silence

Echo of Silence

Christina Rossetti (born 1830 in London) was raised into a “iterary family” of substantial achievement. Her father, Gabriele Rossetti, was a poet, as was her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Her first poems were printed when she was just 12 years old. Christina was a significant voice in Victorian English poetry and hers is filled with symbolism and intense emotion.

“Echo” is a haunting poem about a lover who has died, and the speaker pleads for their return, even if in a dream, to “speak low…as long ago.” There is only a thin (but all the same, eternal) wall between the two, and the speaker intensely yearns to recapture their past and make it a “living present.”

There are many analyses of the work, including that of the mythological nymph, named “Echo”, who was in love with Zeus. Finding this out, Zeus' wife, Hera, placed a curse on Echo so that she was only able to repeat the last few words of anything Zeus said. (Hence, the name, “Echo.”)

The title of the poem also provides insight into a poetic device with repetitions (echoes) of the text. Rather than the speaker's lover answering back, there is only the echo of the speaker's own voice.

About the composer
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