A Daughter of Eve

Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

A fool I was to sleep at noon,
And wake when night is chilly
Beneath the comfortless cold moon;
A fool to pluck my rose too soon,
A fool to snap my lily.

My garden-plot I have not kept;
Faded and all-forsaken,
I weep as I have never wept:
Oh it was summer when I slept,

It's winter now i waken.

Talk what you please of future spring
And sun-warm'd sweet to-morrow:-
Stripp'd bare of hope and everything,
No more to laugh, no more to sing,
I sit alone with sorrow.

My understanding:

The title, "A Daughter of Eve" gives the poem a regretful, deafeated, and hopeless air.
Eve was a character in the Bible that made a foolish mistake and ended up getting kicked out of her home.
Saying that the speaker is a 'daughter of Eve' is saying that she also made a costly mistake just like Eve.
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The poem opens with the speaker calling herself a fool.
'Noon' is the time before night, before things get dark outside.
To 'sleep at noon' shows that the speaker was at unawares before the dark time instead of being ready.
'Wake when night is chilly' means the speaker came back to her senses when things had already gone bad.
'Pluck my rose' : a rose represents passion, love, and hope
'Snap my lily': a lily means purity
'A fool to pluck my rose too soon, A fool to snap my lily': the verse indicates that the speaker had given her passion,hope,love,and purity to someone or something 'too soon.'
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'My garden-plot','All-forsaken': after she had lost her passion and purity too soon, she stopped caring about her self, she had done nothing at all after her loss.
'Weep as I have never wept'=regreted more than I have ever regretted.
'It was summer when I slept': Everything was fine when she was making a decision.
'It's winter now I waken':Reality opened her eyes and she realizes the decision she made was a mistake.
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'Talk what you please of future spring And sun-warm'd sweet to-morrow'': The speaker doesn't care when others talk about future hopes and dreams.
'Stripp'd bare of hope': she doesn't have any hope.
'I sit alone': she is forsaken/she seperates herself from the world.
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I think the speaker is a teenage girl that has become pregnant, a single mom.
She thought that her man really loved her.
But as soon as she was with child, the whole world, including him, forsaked her.
And now she was only filled with remorse and regret.
The sacrifice of love and purity made me think of this.
Many people today risk mistakes they may make for little happinesses.
They don't think of what may happen in the future because of their decision.
They only think of here and now.
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The speaker could also be a person that has become adicted to drugs or gambling.
It can be anyone who had made one wrong decision that changed the course of their whole lives. They were stuck in their own decisions and had to carry the burdens of the outcome.
They have nothing but regrets.
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Theme: A decision you make for the happiness of a fleeting moment may cost you the rest of your life.