The Blessed Damozel Literary Elements

The poem is narrated by an omniscient speaker, who describes and quotes both the damozel in heaven and her grieving lover on earth.

The poem consists of 24 stanzas with 6 lines each. The constant rhyme scheme is ABCBDB. The meter is iambic tetrameter, which means that it generally contains 4 non-stressed syllables and 4 stressed syllables: bum-BUM-bum-BUM-bum-BUM-bum-BUM, and so on.

There are several important metaphors and similes throughout "The Blessed Damozel." The metaphors are less common than the similes, but they help provide some evocative language and clarity to the poem. In the first metaphor, the speaker refers to the passage of time as "the tides of day and night" (33). Additionally, when the lover believes that he has heard the damozel, he describes her voice as a "bird's song" (61).

Along with the metaphors, there is an overabundance of rich and interesting similes in "The Blessed Damozel." The first simile that we find in "The Blessed Damozel" compares the damozel's hair to a food crop that we all know: "Her hair that lay along her back / Was yellow like ripe corn" (11-2). Following this simile, the speaker makes a comparison to help the reader visualize what the Earth looks like from Heaven: "The void, as low as where this earth / Spins like a fretful midge" (35-6). Further down, the speaker describes what the ascension of souls to Heaven from Earth looks like to the damozel: "the souls mounting up to God / went by her like thin flames" (41-2). The damozel also can see the passage of time from where she is leaning out over heaven: "she saw / Time like a pulse shake fierce: (49-50). Later on, the speaker compares the moon to a feather: "the curl'd moon / Was like a little feather" (55-6). Additionally, the speaker uses a simile to describe what it sounds like when the damozel speaks: "Her voice was like the voice the stars / Had when they sang together" (59-60).

These metaphors and similes help to build out the descriptions of Heaven to the reader and make them more accessible in the reader's mind's eye. Rossetti masterfully compares things that could only be seen in Heaven to things that do exist on Earth, so that the reader may easily visualize them.

There are several instances of alliteration in this poem. In line 3, we see alliteration of the "d" sound when the speaker is describing the damozel's eyes: "Her eyes were deeper than the depth / of waters still'd at even" (3-4). Additionally, we see alliteration of the "s" sound later on in the poem: "the stars sang in their spheres" (54). Finally, we have alliteration of the soft "c" sound near the end, with a mention of Heaven's "citherns and citoles" (126).

Ballad

The poem is set in Heaven, where a damozel watches over her lover on Earth, and it takes place ten years after her death (which is felt as one single day in Heaven).

The tone of the poem is sad and lamenting as the damozel is waiting for her lover to join her in Heaven and begins to fear that this will never happen.

The protagonist is the titular “blessed damozel,” a young, beautiful woman who died ten years ago and has reached Heaven. Her heavenly existence is only overshadowed by the fact that she is yearning for her earthly lover to finally join her in heaven. While there is no obvious antagonist, the damozel begins to question God after waiting for a long time, implying that he won’t let her beloved enter Heaven for a reason.

The conflict is whether the damozel will be reunited with her lover in Heaven.

The climax of the poem occurs in Stanza XII. In this stanza, the damozel begins to speak for the first time. After establishing that she died several years ago and is now waiting for him to join her in heaven, she addresses God, finally asking why she has to wait for so long. In this stanza she also mentions fear for the first time, confessing that her beloved might actually never join her in Heaven. Formally, Rossetti implies that this stanza acts as a climax for the rest of the poem through his use of repetition and rhetorical questioning—both of these devices help to heighten the tension at this moment and truly evoke the damozel's desperation.

There are no instances of foreshadowing in the poem.

There are no instances of understatement in the poem.

Throughout the poem there are allusions to Christian figures and biblical scripture. The entire poem is set in the Christian Heaven with references made to God, the Virgin Mary as well as Jesus Christ. Additionally, the seven stars in the damozel's hair may be allusions to the books of Revelation and Amos.

There is one instance of metonymy in this poem. Instead of referring to the damozel as another soul in Heaven, the speaker refers to her as "one of God's choristers" (14). This is just another way of saying one of the people who live in Heaven.

There is one evocative instance of personification in this poem: "the lilies lay as if asleep" (74). The lilies droop as if sleeping to emphasize the damozel's feeling of stuckness and overwhelming melancholy in this moment. However, the damozel is stuck in a state of waiting, which effectively stops time—even the flowers that she wears merely sleep, not whither.