Despair is a very common theme in many of Rossetti's poems and is particularly prominent in his poem “From the Antique”. This is typical of his attitude towards despair, since Rossetti seems to have a moral dilemma between his religious fanaticism and his death wish. This is reflected in her use of natural imagery, which helps to emphasize the beauty of the world she will leave behind if her suicidal thoughts override her faith. This essay will aim to prove the idea that "From the Antique" presents Rossetti's typical attitude towards despair, through a close comparison with the poems "Remember" and "Goblin Market". Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”?Get the Original Essay Despair and suicide are prevalent themes in Rossetti's poem, "From the Antique." The title of the poem seems to suggest nostalgia, which could show the speaker's desire to return to the past and get rid of these feelings of depression. Alternatively, "ancient" may refer to ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, where self-sacrifice was considered heroic rather than sinful. This may indicate that the speaker has problems with the times in which he lives; The Victorian era was known for being particularly conservative, meaning issues such as depression and mental health were not addressed. It also presents the speaker's religious crisis, since suicide is considered a mortal sin in Christian theology; Rossetti was a committed High Church Anglican, which highlights her personal conflict with depression and her faith. For this reason, the speaker experiences feelings of hopelessness because he has no other way to cope with depression other than through writing. It also highlights Rossetti's struggle with her own mental health and the idea that she is creating a character that she is able to identify with. However, Rossetti's use of the third person in the first line of the poem indicates that she is attempting to distance herself from the speaker: "It's a tiring life, she says." This also ties back to the idea that depression was a taboo subject in the 19th century and misleads the reader into believing that Rossetti does not struggle with this issue herself. Natural imagery is also used in the poem to describe feelings of despair, particularly in the third stanza: "The flowers bloom as of old, the cherries ripen, and the wild bees buzz." Rossetti chooses to focus on spring and summer rather than fall and winter, which juxtaposes the speaker's depression with the vitality of the Earth. It also allows us to present the beauty that the speaker will no longer be able to admire if his death wish is too strong. Since the seasons occur in a cycle, this shows how the speaker believes that life would continue in the same way if he died and implies that they left no significant impact on the world, presenting the complete lack self-esteem of the speaker. This lack of self-esteem may stem from Rossetti's issues with his gender, as the speaker says: "I would and would like to be a man: or, better than any being, I do not wasn’t.” Rossetti's ideas on gender roles were closely tied to her religious views, in which she fundamentally believed that men and women could not be equal and were created for a different purpose. The first stanza makes a drastic shift from gender identity to suicide, showing that the speaker's despair is so great that dying as a woman.