Despair is a very common theme in many of Rossetti's poems and is particularly important for his poem, 'Dall'Antico'. It is typical of his attitude towards despair, as Rossetti seems to have a moral dilemma between his religious fanaticism and his death wish. This is conveyed through his use of natural imagery, which helps to emphasize the beauty of the world he will leave behind should his suicidal thoughts overwhelm his faith. This essay intends to demonstrate the idea that 'Dall'Antico' presents Rossetti's typical attitude towards desperation, through a close comparison with the poems 'Ricorda' and 'Mercato Goblin'. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Despair and suicide are prevalent themes in Rossetti's poem "Dall'Antico". The title of the poem seems to suggest nostalgia, which could show the speaker's desire to return to the past and free himself from these feelings of depression. Alternatively, "ancient" could allude to ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, where sacrificing oneself was considered heroic rather than sinful. This could indicate that the speaker has problems with the era in which he lives; the Victorian era was known for being particularly conservative, meaning that issues such as depression and mental health were not discussed. It also presents the speaker's religious crisis, as suicide is considered a mortal sin in Christian theology; Rossetti was a committed High Church Anglican, which sheds light on her personal struggle with depression and her faith. For this reason, the speaker experiences a feeling of desperation because he has no other way out to deal with depression other than the written word. This also highlights Rossetti's struggle with his own mental health and the idea that he is creating a person he is able to relate to. However, Rossetti's use of the third person in the first line of the poem indicates that he is attempting to distance himself from the speaker: "It's a tired life, it is, he said." This also relates to the idea that depression was a taboo subject in the 19th century and misleads the reader into believing that Rossetti herself is not struggling with this issue. Natural imagery is also used in the poem to represent feelings of desperation, particularly in the third stanza: "The flowers bloom as in ancient times, the cherries ripen, and the wild bees buzz." Rossetti chooses to focus on spring and summer as opposed to autumn and winter, which contrasts the speaker's depression with the vitality of the Earth. It also helps present the beauty that the speaker will no longer be able to admire if their death wish is too strong. Since the seasons follow each other in a cycle, it shows how the speaker believes that life would go on the same way if they died and implies that they left no significant impact on the world, presenting the speaker's complete lack of self-worth. This lack of self-esteem may stem from Rossetti's problems with her gender, as the speaker says: "I would and wish I were a man: or, better than any being, were not." Rossetti's ideas about gender roles were closely linked to his religious views, in which he fundamentally believed that men and women could not be equal and were created for different purposes. The first stanza makes a drastic shift from gender identity to suicide, showing that the speaker's desperation is so great that dying as a woman seems more attractive to them than living. This shows the struggle of women in the Victorian era, as women were seen as inferior to men and.