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Difficulty: MediumExtended Metaphors and Conceits

Read the following poem by Christina Rossetti (published in 1861) carefully:

Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.

But is there for the night a resting-place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.

Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?
Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?
They will not keep you standing at that door.

Shall I find comfort, travel-worn and sore?
Of labour you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.

In the poem, how does the extended metaphor of the 'road' and the 'inn' function to convey the speaker's thematic argument?

  1. A
    It provides a literal description of two travelers navigating a steep road and finding shelter at a local hostel.
  2. B
    It details the poet's own historical struggle to find financial security and stable housing during the Victorian era.
  3. It conceptualizes human life as a challenging journey that inevitably culminates in the universal rest of death.Answer
  4. D
    It presents a series of disconnected symbols, with the road representing labor, the night representing ignorance, and the inn representing religion.
  5. E
    It serves as a demonstration of the author's ability to structure a poem around allegorical dialogue and metaphysical conceits.

Answer

The extended metaphor conceptualizes human life as a challenging journey that inevitably culminates in the universal rest of death.
The correct answer identifies that the metaphor conceptualizes human life as a challenging journey that inevitably culminates in the universal rest of death. Throughout the poem, the journey represents the lifelong path of human existence ('up-hill all the way', 'whole long day'), while the 'resting-place' or 'inn' represents death or the afterlife, where all travelers ('all who come') eventually find rest. This sustained, multi-layered comparison functions as an extended metaphor that frames the inevitability of mortality in a comforting, structured manner.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Identify the vehicle and tenor of the central metaphor in the poem.
The vehicle is a traveler journeying up a steep hill to an inn; the tenor is the human experience of living through hardships to reach the finality of death.
Understanding the core comparative relationship is essential for mapping the metaphor's components.
2
Analyze how individual elements of the poem develop this comparison.
The 'day's journey' and 'morn to night' represent the lifespan; the 'inn' and 'beds' represent the final resting place or death; the 'wayfarers' represent humanity.
Tracking how the elements work together shows that the metaphor is extended throughout the entire text.
3
Determine the thematic significance of the extended metaphor.
The conceit structures the dialogue to argue that although life is a continuous struggle ('up-hill all the way'), rest ('beds for all who come') is guaranteed at the end.
Connecting the structural device to the poem's theme completes the analysis of the extended metaphor.

Key Concept

Extended Metaphors and Conceits
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Topics

Extended Metaphors and Conceits

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