An Echo by Christina Rossetti

A recital of "An Echo", a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, 1830 - 1894. Christina Rossetti is one of the most important Victorian women poets, part of the Pre-Raphaelite movement founded by her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Like him she showed promise as a poet while still very young. She was educated at home and encouraged to write by her family; her teenage poems were printed by her grandfather on his own press. Christina Rossetti is famous for "Goblin Market," and other works.

Come to me in the silence of the night;
Come in the speaking silence of a dream;
Come with soft rounded cheeks and eyes as bright
As sunlight on a stream;
Come back in tears,
O memory, hope, love of finished years.

Oh dream how sweet, too sweet, too bitter sweet,
Whose wakening should have been in Paradise,
Where souls brimfull of love abide and meet;
Where thirsting longing eyes
Watch the slow door
That opening, letting in, lets out no more.

Yet come to me in dreams, that I may live
My very life again though cold in death:
Come back to me in dreams, that I may give
Pulse for pulse, breath for breath:
Speak low, lean low,
As long ago, my love, how long ago!

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Poetry
• Christina
• Rossetti
• Echo
• recital

[JimdJordan]

Beautiful!!! Who is the amazing woman reciting this poem? I could listen to her all day.

[jeana1001]

I love this.

[CatHellsky]

I'm singing an arrangement of this song in a choir, and the chords in some of it make me nearly cry because it's just so beautiful.

[mass99999]

Every time I'm sad I remember your voice and the way you give words more meaning and depth and the genuineness of your performance. it gives goosebumps and makes me sink in an everlasting bittersweet dream. In short Epic! So please can we get some more?

[DJDrSciFi]

Hello Christina Rossetti I respectfully borrowed a verse of you reciting An Echo

and put it into my song 8bit dream. Your voice and

narration is so beautiful that I was inspired to do it.

I posted it as a reply to this video.

Peace

[anitaove]

just beautiful.. do you have more poems by her? she's amazing

[USERNAMEDSOBER]

Thank you for sharing, your voice is very nice. Will you please recite more poems?

[tigerfishgirl]

too sweet, too bittersweet...

thank you so much for posting this heartfelt recitation! so moving. i am a composer and i always feel rossetti's poems are so easy to set to music. they are instrinsically musical (making my job so much easier!)

[geekygirl111]

This is exactly how I imagined the poem would sound.

I was torn between this poem and "Remember" to read at my sister's funeral a month ago and read "Remember" because it was more appropriate.

But still this is a great poem for lovers.

Well done,

Thank you

Linda

[alibug813]

i wish i could of met a person as insperashinal as her. i know i spelled it wrong.