ENGL 3002 Position Paper "Uphill"

Year taken: 2012-2013

Professor: Nellie Vázquez

Class: INGL3002

University: University of Puerto Rico, Cayey Campus

Grace H. Rodríguez Cruz

Profesor N. Vázquez

English 3002

April 26th 2013

Analysis of the poem “Uphill” by Cristina Rossetti

         There’s no doubt that Rossetti’s religious belief influences a lot of her work and becomes an icon to her writing. The poem is short and precise. “Does the road wind up-hill all the way?/ Yes, to the very end.” This is the first two lines of the poem with someone questioning if life is going to be difficult as an uphill every-time; another voice answers it will be so. It is expressed as a conversation between two people or beings about life, death and heaven. This goes on with the person who is always asking and the reader can feel, in some way, the lack of motivation to keep forward up the hill. It is when the questioner is told he or she will find an inn after the hill where travelers rest well and be welcomed where we see a certain motivation in the questions: “May not the darkness hide it from my face?/You cannot miss that inn.” This part expresses the worry of not finding such amazing place; giving the reader knowledge that this questioner has found a motivation to keep the journey. Another example of this will be: “Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?” in which the other speaking voice answers: “Of labour you shall find the sum.”  The image of this inn is a heavenly place where souls go if they are looking for the glory of God. The questioner is most likely to be a common person who is having desperate times in life and is trying to find some comfort and hope for a better tomorrow. The image of heaven as inn goes perfect with the description of resting and being received with a warm welcome after an awfully tiring climb. The other voice seems to be another person who is confident about his/her faith in a better tomorrow after death. This is, of course, if you climb hard enough in life to earn a place in heaven or, in the poem, the inn. However, this last character can also be given the identity of a deity or saint, for example Jesus or God Almighty himself. If this is so, we may have that the questioner might not be talking physically with someone but maybe this person is praying to find inner peace and God or anyone near Him has answered the desperate with the reminder of a better life. “Will there be beds for me and all who seek?/Yea, beds for all who come.” This shows the faith of the questioner getting restored with the boost of this voice and the words spoken to this other person in the last two lines. Since the poem doesn’t give any other specification than the short interview, we can set our minds to many settings as to who are talking, but we can be sure that the meaning of this poem is tend to remind others about the faith in God, the religious belief of reward after death for doing good and to increase the inner strength of the people to keep running up the hill. This expresses a more than obvious stamp of the transcendentalism in the poem to promote the role of humans in God’s plan. 

Sources:

·         The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Romantic Period through the Twentieth Century. 8^th Ed. 2005

·         "Christina Rossetti." Poetryfoundation.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2013.