Promises Like Pie Crust
February 13, 2011
“Promises Like Pie-Crust”
Christina Rossetti’s attitude towards marriage and singleness is clearly demonstrated with her carefully chosen images. She writes flawlessly about the cons of relationships, trust, and general heartbreak. She writes so well that what she says even applies to things that may have happened in the reader’s life, thus giving the poem even more meaning than ever, bringing it to a much more personal level. She gives the reader something to connect to her with, even if the speaker’s attitude seems a little sour.
The phrase, “Promises Like Pie-Crust”, undoubtedly holds the most symbolism within any given image the speaker expresses in the poem. The reader thinks of pie first-then the crust. They think of how the pie crust breaks easily, and crumbles at the touch of a finger. Promises are like pie crusts they realize, because they are hard to keep together, hard to keep completely whole, without a crack, without some imperfection. The softest brush will cause some defectiveness in its condition as a whole. With the defectiveness come problems with trying to keep the rest of what is left together. Her attitude towards relationships is that they disintegrate at some point, and much beyond repair. Relationships and promises aren’t unbreakable, quite fragile in truth, and that seems to really frighten her. “I should fret to break the chain...” She wants to be loved, but she is too afraid to let that happen. She wants the fairytale romance, but not the commitment and broken promises that come along with it. The speaker seems to have the attitude of if she never loves at all, then at least she wasn’t hurt.
Christina Rossetti continues, “I, so cold, may once have seen sunlight, once have felt the sun…” Clearly Rossetti has once been in love, and something happened with that. The sun demonstrates the warmth of romance. However, she seems to be stuck in the past, and bitter about it. You can tell from when she says “I,
“Promises Like Pie-Crust”
Christina Rossetti’s attitude towards marriage and singleness is clearly demonstrated with her carefully chosen images. She writes flawlessly about the cons of relationships, trust, and general heartbreak. She writes so well that what she says even applies to things that may have happened in the reader’s life, thus giving the poem even more meaning than ever, bringing it to a much more personal level. She gives the reader something to connect to her with, even if the speaker’s attitude seems a little sour.
The phrase, “Promises Like Pie-Crust”, undoubtedly holds the most symbolism within any given image the speaker expresses in the poem. The reader thinks of pie first-then the crust. They think of how the pie crust breaks easily, and crumbles at the touch of a finger. Promises are like pie crusts they realize, because they are hard to keep together, hard to keep completely whole, without a crack, without some imperfection. The softest brush will cause some defectiveness in its condition as a whole. With the defectiveness come problems with trying to keep the rest of what is left together. Her attitude towards relationships is that they disintegrate at some point, and much beyond repair. Relationships and promises aren’t unbreakable, quite fragile in truth, and that seems to really frighten her. “I should fret to break the chain...” She wants to be loved, but she is too afraid to let that happen. She wants the fairytale romance, but not the commitment and broken promises that come along with it. The speaker seems to have the attitude of if she never loves at all, then at least she wasn’t hurt.
Christina Rossetti continues, “I, so cold, may once have seen sunlight, once have felt the sun…” Clearly Rossetti has once been in love, and something happened with that. The sun demonstrates the warmth of romance. However, she seems to be stuck in the past, and bitter about it. You can tell from when she says “I,