More Than Just Heat

In Rossetti's poem "After Death", it starts out as a very dark poem filled with sadness and an unpleasant setting as we realize that the woman narrating the story is dead . "The curtains were half drawn, the floor was swept/And lay strewn with rushes, rosemary and may/ Lay thick upon the bed on which I lay" Flowers associated with death are surrounding her and it is obvious that she is lying in a coffin. It seems as if there is no way that this woman could be happy because her life has just ended. However, she express happiness towards a man that is at her funeral: "He did not love me living; but once dead/ He pitied me; and very sweet it is/ To know he still is warm tho' I am cold." I believe that when the woman expresses these cheerful feelings that she means much more than the literal interpretation of the word "warm". Of course she means that she is happy that the man is still living and "warm". However, I believe that she also is very happy that the man is finally expressing "warm" feelings toward her (even though it took her death for that to occur she is still thrilled that it has finally happened). This is the reason that the woman is truly happy. She has finally achieved the love that she has desired from this man, and that is even enough to keep her happy even after he mortal life has ended.