A Closer Look At Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s “Jenny”
This poem, about a poet and his night with a prostitute, dramatizes the conflict between the speaker and his indecisive temperament. Keeping in mind, the prim and proper Victorian era, his unease regarding the prostitute is easier to understand. More specifically, the poet’s struggle is found in his conflicting attitude towards the prostitute “Jenny,” of whom he questions whether he should be sympathetic towards or not.
Through dramatic monologue, the speaker reveals to the reader his different thoughts and feelings about the girl. It is within the first stanza of the poem that we are introduced to the speaker who is describing the prostitute in his own way. In contrasting descriptive terms such as “Laughing” and “Languid” we see how the poet uses language to show us his uncertain opinion of the girl. The poet’s indecisive opinion about the girl continues to formulate as he uses both positive and negative descriptive traits in juxtaposition: she is a “fresh flower” in line 12, but by line 14, she is a “poor flower.” While ‘fresh’ brings to light feelings of vivaciousness or purity and a more positive opinion of the girl, by contrast, saying that she is also ‘poor’ turns her into something undesirable or dirty, and shows that the speaker is unsure of how he feels about her. These mixed feelings are further supported by the poet’s use of different tropes and techniques, one such being alliteration (the repetition of the consonant “L” for example), with which he is placing emphasis on his varying descriptions of the girl. This inquisitive nature that the speaker portrays shines through immediately within the first stanza of the poem, especially when he asks the question in lines 20-21: “Whose person or whose purse may be/The lodestar of your reverie?” He wonders whether she is after the man for love and attention or if she only dreams about the money she receives. He cannot make up his mind about her because he does not know of her intentions in doing what she does. With this dilemma at hand, the speaker will weigh his thoughts about the girl throughout the poem. The speaker works through his understanding by contemplating whether or not her kind deserves his sympathy. His struggle with different feelings toward the prostitute is shown by him expressing both a disdain and care for the girl at the same time. This is illustrated best by the speaker’s use of both archaic language such as “Fie” and more sympathetic uses of terms such as “Poor.” “Fie” emphasizes spiteful and disapproving feelings that he feels whereas the repetitive use of “Poor” in lines 14, 16, and 18, stresses his more considerate or caring side (because he feels pity for her). Once again this further supports his temperamental state. He can never make up his mind about how he truly feels about the girl. Patterns of sharp contrasts followed by pretty flatteries infer either a sympathetic or not so sympathetic view of Jenny. Thus the reader senses the poet’s indecisive nature toward the girl and it is not until the very end that we see a sort of resolution to his dilemma. With what started off in an angry tone, the poem seemingly ends on a more subtle and almost respecting close. This positive change is illustrated by the shift in tone from beginning to the end of the poem. Looking at the start of the poem we see an overuse of punctuation, such as the exclamation mark, or the frequent insertion of caesura’s (which only add a sense of frustration to the speaker’s voice). By the end of the poem however, the change towards a more calming tone is felt with the poet’s use of fewer breaks, signaling a more complete and steady temperament. With the final line of the poem ending in a “Goodbye, my dear” (388), the proper and polite use of language further emphasizes the speaker’s resolute tone.



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