Christina Rossetti is not the only poet to take an interest in echo as poetic concept. In fact, "Echo Verse" was a particular style of writing that was used in the 16th and 17th centuries. In pastoral poetry—poetry about shepherds and other so-called "common-folk" living in the country—echo-verse saw a marked popularity. As a general convention, an echo verse is said to be a poem in which repetition at the end of a line imitates an echo. Moreover, the repetition also often changes the meaning of the poem.
Several famous poets employed echo verse in their writing. George Herbert's "Heaven" and "A Gentle Echo on Woman" are two major examples of a poetry that employs Echo verse. Let's look, briefly, at Herbert's "Heaven":
O who will show me those delights on high?
Echo. I.
Thou Echo, thou art mortall, all men know.
Echo. No.
Wert thou not born among the trees and leaves?
Echo. Leaves.
And are there any leaves, that still abide?
Echo. Bide.
What leaves are they? impart the matter wholly.
Echo. Holy.
Are holy leaves the Echo then of blisse?
Echo. Yes.
Then tell me, what is that supreme delight?
Echo. Light.
Light to the minde : what shall the will enjoy?
Echo. Joy.
But are there cares and businesse with the pleasure?
Echo. Leisure.
Light, joy, and leisure ; but shall they persever?
Echo. Ever.
Notice here a few key features of the echo poem especially the italicized text, indicating which word or syllable is repeated. An echo verse is a poem meant to be read out loud, and someone reading this poem would have likely done so theatrically. The "echo" between each line is not spoken, but the sound to be repeated is. Thus one reads the italicized "Echo" like a stage direction, telling the speaker to repeat, in an echoed voice the key word of each line. Later, in the next line, that same word will appear again, often as a homonym with a changed meaning.
So we should assume that Christina Rossetti knew of echo-verse, and in writing her sextilla, she seems to be nodding towards the popular conventions of some great poets before her. Much work might be done on discovering exactly how Rossetti takes the genre of Echo-verse and twists it into her own, original creation and poetic style.
