This sonnet begins with a grim introduction to "Babylon the Great," the poem's title character. Babylon is a figure from the biblical book of Revelation, a vivid and fearsome telling of the Apocalypse (the Christian vision of the end of the world). During the world's last days, Revelation says, many terrifying figures will put in an appearance, Babylon among them:
- Described as a woman decked out in fabulous jewels and riding a seven-headed scarlet beast, Babylon is a seductive but dreadful "harlot," or prostitute. (The word in the original text might equally be read to mean "prostitute" or "idolater," but interpreters have tended to pick up the more concrete and racy option; Babylon is commonly known as the "Whore of Babylon.")
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Symbolically, Babylon has been read as a representative of everything from ill-ruled empires to corrupt churches to a general vision of idolatry (that is, the ill-advised worship of false gods and false worldly pleasures).
Christina Rossetti, a fervent Christian, here works with the last and broadest of these interpretations. In this poem, she'll build on biblical imagery to present Babylon as a dangerous temptress who lures the unwary into false and destructive beliefs.
In rumbling, ominous tones, the poem's speaker introduces Babylon as a trickster. Babylon is hideously ugly, with a crooked and misshapen face—"foul," "ill-favoured," "set askew." But those foolish enough to "gaze [...] upon her" will find that she has deceptive, hypnotic powers. Look at her long enough, and you'll "dream her fair"—hallucinate that she's beautiful.
Symbolically speaking, this is a neat image of the way that false goods and false gods distract from what's really important, in the speaker's view: keeping your eyes fixed on the true God and eternal life. For instance, if you decide that wealth and power are the most important things in the world, you'll see them as beautiful and desirable—even though, in the grander scheme, they're only dangerous distractions.
This, the speaker suggests, is all too easy a trap to fall into. Babylon knows what she's doing. "Gaze not upon her," the speaker warns, or she might "mesh thee in her wanton hair"—tangle you up in her wandering, shameless locks. This intimate image suggests that Babylon is a seducer, and a practiced one: her "arts," her deceitful schemes, are "old yet ever new." Those who fall for Babylon's tricks, in other words, never realize what's happening. Countless generations have been dazzled and blinded by empty, worldly things—and generations yet to come will fall into the same traps again.
The poem's speaker, then, addresses readers in the rumbling voice of a prophet, warning them against the timeless snares of sin. They'll deliver their message in the form of an Italian sonnet:
- The poem uses 14 lines of iambic pentameter (lines of five iambs, metrical feet with a da-DUM rhythm, as in "Adept | in arts | grown old | yet ev- | er new").
- The rhymes stick to a traditional scheme (which always starts out ABBA ABBA, then uses a mixture of C, D, and E rhymes—in this case, CDDECE). That scheme divides the poem into an opening octave (an eight-line passage) and a closing sestet (a six-line passage).
The half-Italian Rossetti often wrote in this form. Here, she'll also turn to some very Italian literary influences to make her case against idolatrous delusions.