Name: Zheng Jiayin

Class: 6C31

Index number: 11

Practical Criticism

The poem ‘A Coast: Nightmare’ depicts the world of ‘ghostland’, which is shown

to be a separate plane of existence from the real world, through the eyes of the narrator.

Rossetti creates this impression by drawing on the elements of ‘ghostland’, such as its

physical environment, atmosphere and inhabitants, which clearly contrasts with the

reality that the reader is familiar with.

‘Ghostland’ is depicted as being in a state of limbo --- a timeless space of

uncertainty and non-resolution. The portrayal of ‘ghostland’ as an island gives it a sense

of isolation; of being apart from the reality of the narrator, as well as of the reader. Also,

time appears to be suspended in the world of ‘ghostland’, as seen from the narrator’s

description in the first stanza:

All unripened in the unended twilight:

For there comes neither night nor day.

Here, the narrator creates the feeling of otherness by using the affix ‘un-’ in front of

conventional words like “ripened” to subtly compare ‘ghostland’ to the real world that

the reader knows. The use of the word “unended” instead of “unending” gives the feeling

of lacking an end or conclusion, of being confined within a fixed space, rather than a

sense of continuity. This adds to the lack of hope which permeates the world of

‘ghostland’, and it is further reinforced by the narrator’s emphasis on the non-existence of

life in ‘ghostland’:

Living flocks and herds are nowhere found there:

Only ghosts in flocks and shoals:

The use of assonance (repetition of ‘O’ sound) here gives a moaning effect, thereby

intensifying the overall feeling of hopelessness. The constant use of sibilant sounds

(“sea”, “souls”, “space”) in the poem also contributes to the sombre and grave

atmosphere of ‘ghostland’. Furthermore, in these two lines, the image of the “ghosts”

travelling as a collective whole, like animals (“living flocks and herds”), as well as the

lack of reference to any singular ghost at this point, shows that the inhabitants of

‘ghostland’ are indistinct from one another. The uniformity and lack of individual

identity of these “indistinguished” ghosts, not only add to the ambiguity of ‘ghostland’,

but also shows a lack of purpose and meaning of existence there --- “harvest” is not

reaped, the “vineyard” is not tended to, and “dead men’s souls” wander around aimlessly.

This magnifies the sense of confinement in ‘ghostland’ --- its inhabitants are trapped

within an identity-less, ambiguous, meaningless state of existence.

However, after thrusting the reader into the disorienting world of ‘ghostland’, the

real world which the reader is familiar with is deliberately reintroduced in the last two

stanzas of the poem and conventional ‘order’ of reality is restored. The concept of time is

established (“All night long I feel his presence hover”), acting as a contrast to the

timelessness of the ‘ghostland’ which the narrator described in the first three stanzas.

Here, the narrator’s voice comes from outside of ‘ghostland’, instead of within, showing

that she is in a midway state between sleeping and waking. It also implies that the

‘ghostland’ is a construct of her imagination; it is at the edge of her mind. As such, the

narrator seems to be trapped in an intermediate condition between sleeping and waking; a

state of half-consciousness. The inhabitants of this dimension, the ‘ghosts’ ---

disembodied spirits with “hazy”, vague and evanescent forms --- serve as a physical

representation of the midway state of the world of ‘ghostland’.

After knowing of the distinction between the narrator’s real world and imagined

world of ‘ghostland’, the reader can now observe the transition from the former to the

latter in the first stanza and note the differences between the two. “Sea” can be

interpreted as a metaphor for life in the poem, hence making the “blood-red seaweeds

dripping along the coastland” of ‘ghostland’ the remnants of life, highlighting images of

bloodshed and violence in the real world. The tempestuous “wrenches and tosses” of the

sea, a metaphor for the emotional upheavals of life, can be contrasted with the general

absence of movement of Nature in ‘ghostland’ (“tideless waters”). Water, which is

believed to be a universal medium between separate dimensions, serves to connect

‘ghostland’ and the real world in this poem.

Also, as an unmarried woman poet in the Victorian era, Rossetti’s socially-

ordained role as a wife and mother is unfulfilled; her desires in life (such as her longing

for a partner and a child of her own) unsated. Such unfulfilled wants have no place in real

life, especially due to the sexual repression of women in the Victorian era, so the

‘ghostland’ may be an alternate dimension created by the poet, where she suspends these

ungratified longings of her reality in a non-resolution state of limbo. As such, words such

as “unripe harvest” in the poem are given an additional layer of meaning, as they can be

seen as images of infertility, reflecting the poet’s sense of her own inadequacy stemming

from her inability to fulfil her social role. This is further reinforced by the definition of

“love” as an unseen presence, without any physical manifestation (“without a voice”,

“through the darkness black as ink”), in the poem. Also, the narrator’s “love in

ghostland” is seen as a haunting and horrifying experience instead of a pleasant one; one

which keeps her perpetually confined within the state of limbo.