“Good Friday” Summary

“Good Friday” Themes

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  Faith and Feeling

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• 

  Spiritual Crisis and Belief

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Good Friday”

• Line 1

  Am I a stone, and not a sheep,

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 2-4

  That I can stand, O Christ, beneath Thy cross,
  To number drop by drop Thy blood's slow loss,
  And yet not weep?

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 5-8

  Not so those women loved
  Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
  Not so fallen Peter, weeping bitterly;
  Not so the thief was moved;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 9-12

  Not so the Sun and Moon
  Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
  A horror of great darkness at broad noon—
  I, only I.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 13-14

  Yet give not o'er,
  But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-16

  Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
  And smite a rock.

  

  

  

  

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“Good Friday” Symbols

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  The Midday Darkness

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“Good Friday” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Allusion

  

  

  

  

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• Apostrophe

  

  

  

  

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• Assonance

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Repetition

  

  

  

  

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“Good Friday” Vocabulary

Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

• Thy
• Number
• Those women
• Exceeding
• Lamented
• Peter
• Thee
• The thief
• Broad noon
• Yet give not o'er
• True Shepherd of the flock
• Moses
• Smite

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Good Friday”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“Good Friday” Speaker

“Good Friday” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “Good Friday”

More “Good Friday” Resources

• External Resources

  • The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a reading of the poem. 

  • Rossetti at the Victorian Web — Visit the Victorian Web to find a treasure trove of information on Rossetti.    

  • A Brief Biography — Read the Poetry Foundation's short essay on Rossetti's life and work.

  • A Contemporary Response — Read critic William Sharp's admiring reminiscence of Rossetti, written not long after her death.

  • Portraits of Rossetti — See some images of Rossetti via London's National Portrait Gallery.

  • "Why Is Good Friday Called 'Good Friday'?" — A Slate article discussing why this solemn Christian holiday has such a "good" title.

• LitCharts on Other Poems by Christina Rossetti

  • A Birthday

  • An Apple Gathering

  • Babylon the Great

  • Cousin Kate

  • Echo

  • From the Antique

  • In an Artist's Studio

  • In the Round Tower at Jhansi, June 8, 1857 (Indian Mutiny)

  • Maude Clare

  • No, Thank You, John

  • Remember

  • Shut Out

  • Sister Maude

  • Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde

  • Song (When I am dead, my dearest)

  • Twice

  • Up-Hill

  • Winter: My Secret