Symbolism In 'In An Artist's Studio'

In a Poet’s Mind

Women’s rights have become a sensitive topic that garners attention and sympathy from individuals around the world, with many recognizing the issue as serious and unjust; very different from the perspectives of society during the Victorian era. Christina Rossetti uses symbolism to represent the repressive views of society, metaphors to portray the superior attitudes of men, and a disdainful array of diction to convey her dissatisfaction as well as resentment towards the male objectification of women in her poem, “In An Artist’s Studio,” to draw attention to the oppression of the female image. Rossetti uses an abundance of symbols in her poem in order to represent the different perspectives of the victorian era which led …show more content…
Since the man in the poem is a painter, he needs to use the girl’s beauty to sell paintings, therefore earn money. However, by using “feeds,” Rossetti is creating an image of draining the life out of the girl. By only focusing “upon her face,” the artist is ignoring her inner beauty and potential as he parades her figure in order to make a living. Rossetti uses “hidden” to describe the girl hiding her true dreams and personality behind her outer appearance. Since the artist always paints her based on her beauty and is oblivious to the girl’s potential, the girl concludes that her voice is not relevant to society. Therefore, due to objectifying women and only judging their outward appearance, women during the victorian era tend to seal away their personal uniqueness in fear of not being accepted into societal norms. Rossetti describes the girl as having hidden talents and potential, but chooses to be a model for an artist, who only uses her outer appearance, instead. Rossetti also explains how the girl’s eyes were once bright and hopeful, but “not as she is, but as she fills his dream,” signifying that the girl cannot achieve her dreams due to sacrificing everything for the artist. Rossetti uses diction such as “fills” to show that the girl is integral for the man to reach his dream. However, the man merely uses her as a tool in order …show more content…
Her symbolism portrayed the many perspectives on the issue to inform, metaphors which illuminated the negligence of men towards women to argue, and diction that notified the society about the harmful effects of objectification of women to change. Throughout her life, she was dedicated to stand up for equality of genders, with many following her footsteps to this