'A Royal Princess' - Imagery, symbolism and themes

Imagery and symbolism

Cattle - The king regards the men he rules over as being no better than the beasts and crops farmed in his kingdom:

His daughter describes him ‘setting down with equal pen / So many head of cattle, head of horses, head of men' (lines 28-9)
He is happy to see the men and women of the country ‘trodden down like mud' (line 36)
When they rebel, the king considers them a ‘rank crop' that ‘must be mown' (line 72).

The princess' awareness of the famine comes when she overhears that ‘There are families out grazing like cattle in the park'. Given no more respect than animals, they have to resort to grazing whilst the royal family live in luxury and enjoy flowers that are ‘costly' because they are imported from other climates. During the Irish Famine of 1847-8, there were reports that those who were starving actually resorted to eating grass.

Dove - The speaker describes herself as a ‘poor dove that must not coo' (l.6). Doves are used in the Bible to represent:

Reconciliation and peace. This arises from the story of Noah, when a dove sent out from the Ark returns with an olive leaf in its beak, signifying that the storm/flood was over (Genesis 8:11)
The Holy Spirit as at the baptism of Jesus (Matthew 3:16).

By describing herself as a silenced dove, the princess acknowledges her potential to be an agent of reconciliation and peace and a person who is open to the leadings of the Holy Spirit. However, as long as she remains confined in her father's palace, she suggests that her potential cannot be realised.

Eagle - The speaker describes herself as an ‘eagle that must not soar' (l.6). Eagles are massive birds of prey, which they need to soar and glide on air currents. By describing herself as an ‘eagle that must not soar', the princess suggests that her nature is being quashed and diminished. Just an eagle who is forbidden to soar cannot properly survive, by being kept in the palace the Princess cannot lead a life she would consider worth living.

Vulture - The princess describes the counts and the princes who serve her father as ‘valiant lords whom the vulture knows' and on whom he swoops down to destroy. Vultures are birds who feed mostly on the carcasses of dead animals. By linking them to the rich, the princess associates the dead animals which vultures feed on to those people that the wealthy persecute. She hints that her father can be compared to the vulture which destroys when she recognises how he is destroying the livelihood of the starving people who clamour for his attention beyond the palace.

Mirrors - The princess declares that because all her walls are ‘lost in mirrors', she sees herself ‘in every place' (lines 10-11). She later looks in a mirror only to find herself looking ‘old and haggard in the face' (line 43). Mirrors feature frequently in Victorian poetry. For example, in Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem, The Lady of Shllott, when the lady turns away from her mirror to see the knight she glimpses in the mirror whilst she is weaving, she is doomed. One of Rossetti's later poems is called Mirrors of life and Death.

Flood imagery and the symbolism of Noah's ark – In stanza 12, the princess speaks of pity for the population overwhelming her ‘like a flood'. Later, she overhears some people inside the palace discussing in whispers the situation outside. They are becoming worried about the severity of the famine that is occurring and declare ‘A pair of peasants must be saved, even if we build an ark' (line 63). In the Old Testament Book of Genesis, Noah builds an ark as a place of shelter from the floods which God tells him will cover the entire earth. See Aspects of literature > Big ideas from the Bible > Noah and the flood. By suggesting the need for an ark, the people in the poem hint at the desperate nature of the situation many find themselves in. When the famine is later described as a ‘deluge', the associations between the universal flood as described in Genesis 6-9 and the situation of the poor who are starving outside the palace walls becomes more apparent.

Investigating imagery and symbolism

How effective do you find the bird imagery in the poem?
- What further allusions can you find to birds throughout the poem? Think especially of the notion of ‘cooping' (line 60) or of being contained.
What do you think that the princess means when she claims that all her walls are ‘lost in mirrors'?
- What effect does this have on her understanding of her own identity?
- What does it prevent her from seeing?

Themes

Friendship

Throughout the first part of the poem, the princess laments her isolation and loneliness. She has no-one which is how she can share her plight and is so secluded. All she can do is look upon her own ‘self-same seeking face' (line 12). As a member of the royal family, she suggests that it is impossible to make friends with anyone not of an equal position. She claims that those that work for the King are her ‘courteous servant[s]' and none of them, her ‘mate' (lines 24-25).

Family

The poem raises the question as to where loyalties lie: with parents or with serving God and seeking justice? Ultimately, Rossetti suggests that, if one's parents do not conform to a pattern of justice that is fair and non-oppressive, one should rebel:

The only things we hear about the speaker's mother is that she is ‘sad' (line 81) and that she ‘tarrieth' (line 97). She is not shown to be a good example to the princess as she encourages her to sit and sew useless objects whilst people starve outside the palace
The King is presented as a tyrant. Although he is shown to be kind to his daughter and wife, he has no care for those over whom he rules.

Although the princess overhears the threat against her father:

‘Sit and roast there with your meat …
Sit on your throne and roast with your crown'.

It is not to his aid that she comes, but to that of the people.

Investigating themes

How do you interpret the penultimate line?
What comments about society do you think that the poem is making?
What comments do you think that the poem is making about the value and significance of human life?
In what way are these comments relevant for the twenty-first century citizen?

English Standard Version
King James Version

¹But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. ²The fountains of the deep and the windows of the heavens were closed, the rain from the heavens was restrained, ³and the waters receded from the earth continually. At the end of 150 days the waters had abated, ⁴and in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. ⁵And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. ⁶At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made ⁷and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. ⁸Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. ⁹But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. ¹⁰He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. ¹¹And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. ¹²Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him anymore. ¹³In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. ¹⁴In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth had dried out. ¹⁵Then God said to Noah, ¹⁶Go out from the ark, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you. ¹⁷Bring out with you every living thing that is with you of all flesh - birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth - that they may swarm on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth. ¹⁸So Noah went out, and his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. ¹⁹Every beast, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, went out by families from the ark. ²⁰Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. ²²While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.

¹And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters assuaged; ²The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; ³And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated. ⁴And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. ⁵And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen. ⁶And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: ⁷And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. ⁸Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; ⁹But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. ¹⁰And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; ¹¹And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf plucked off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. ¹²And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more. ¹³And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. ¹⁴And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried. ¹⁵And God spake unto Noah, saying, ¹⁶Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee. ¹⁷Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. ¹⁸And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons' wives with him: ¹⁹Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark. ²⁰And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ²¹And the LORD smelled a sweet savor; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. ²²While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

English Standard Version
King James Version

¹In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, ²Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. ³For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight. ⁴Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, ⁶and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. ⁹And do not presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ¹¹I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹²His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. ¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴John would have prevented him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? ¹⁵But Jesus answered him, Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness. Then he consented. ¹⁶And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷and behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.

¹In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, ²And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. ³For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. ⁴And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. ⁵Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, ⁶And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: ⁹And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. ¹⁰And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. ¹¹I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire: ¹²Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. ¹³Then cometh Jesus from Galilee to Jordan unto John, to be baptized of him. ¹⁴But John forbad him, saying, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me? ¹⁵And Jesus answering said unto him, Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he suffered him. ¹⁶And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: ¹⁷And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

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Christina Rossetti, selected poems Contents