Victorian Verse - Somewhere or Other - Christina Rossetti

This poem is once again full of yearning for a soul mate.  In spite of disappointment, the poet continues to hope that “somewhere” out there is someone, or something, that she can join with and find her love reciprocated.  Whether this is a secular or spiritual joining is again left ambiguous, but the imagery is of this world and rooted in familiar sights and sounds.

Although there is an underlying iambic tetrametre rhythm, most clearly in the second line of each stanza, there is considerable variation to allow for a free expressions of her emotions.  The rhyme scheme is regular – ababcdcdefef – which suggest a Shakespearean sonnet.  However, there is no finishing couplet, and no volta.  Instead, the repeated opening of the second and third quatrains shows little development in the argument through the poem – which is indeed a theme, as the poet has so far searched in vain and is close to despair. 

Somewhere or other there must surely be

The face not seen, the voice not heard,

The heart that not yet—never yet—ah me!

Made answer to my word. 

The poet begins in disbelief; surely there is someone, or something, out there to be found and which will respond to her need for a soul mate?  The extent of her longing is clearly expressed in the third line, where her longing breaks through, the rhythm becomes uneven and the line lengthens.  The images of the hidden face, the silent voice and hearts beating together is familiar from “Remember Me” or “Echo”.

Somewhere or other, may be near or far;

Past land and sea, clean out of sight;

Beyond the wandering moon, beyond the star

That tracks her night by night.

Her continuing search is conveyed through the repetition.  In this stanza she searches “far”; however far away it might be, the looked for one is out there.  She identifies herself with the “star” that follows the moon, but never catches it.  This is the planet Venus, named after the goddess of love, which often appears in close proximity to the moon. The moon "wanders" because it travels around the earth.

Somewhere or other, may be far or near;

With just a wall, a hedge, between;

With just the last leaves of the dying year

Fallen on a turf grown green.

The first line of the second quatrain is repeated, but with a change of word order, as the search now comes “near”; maybe the one looked for is close at hand, separated from the seeker by only a garden hedge or wall, or even by as little as a flurry of leaves falling from the trees in late autumn.  The final image seems to be one of the endless cycle of the seasons, as autumn gives way to winter and then to spring, in much the same way as her search goes on for ever, the looked-for companion being both tantalisingly close and yet so far.