Suffering and Redemption

Where it surfaces

• A Lament

  The poem contrasts the ease of a comfortable life with the 'travail of the hungry years' and 'sorrows of his life' that build 'ladders to be nearer God', framing suffering as a path to spiritual closeness.

• The True Knowledge

  The speaker's waiting and trust in 'some divine eternity' reflects a redemptive hope born from suffering.

• Θρηνῳδία

  The captive women's lament embodies profound suffering, with a faint hope of solace through song and eventual death as a release.

• Στροφή

  The speaker's lament over impending slavery and uncertain fate highlights themes of suffering and the search for deliverance.

• Άντιστροφή

  The speaker's sorrow and impending exile are met with the solace of singing about Artemis, suggesting a redemptive turn through art.

• Στροφή Β

  The speaker's bitter doom of servitude and the fall of rebellious giants evoke themes of suffering and divine judgment.

• Άντιστροφή Β

  The poem dwells on the sorrow and pain of defeat, yet finds a paradoxical redemption in embracing death.

• V

  The speaker contrasts idle dreams with the labor required for growth, hinting at a redemptive struggle.

• A Fragment from the Agamemnon of Aeschylos

  Cassandra's anguish and acceptance of death as a healer highlight the theme of suffering leading to a grim form of redemption.

• Ravenna

  Dante's exile and suffering are redeemed by his immortal poetry; Byron's sacrifice for liberty is honored.

• III

  Dante endured exile and the crown of thorns, yet his soul now rests in peace.

• IV

  Byron's sacrifice redeems his name from slander and secures his immortal fame.

• VI

  Ravenna's misery and the hope of awakening like a rose from snows suggest a redemptive future.

• Sen Artysty

  The dreamer's pursuit of glory leads to a crown of thorns, symbolizing the pain of ambition and the potential for redemption through suffering.

• Hélas!

  The speaker mourns the loss of his soul's inheritance and questions whether a moment of romance has damned him.

• Eleutheria

  The poems dwell on the suffering of soldiers and martyrs, with a call for redemption through liberty or divine intervention.

• Sonnet to Liberty

  The poem juxtaposes the suffering of martyrs on the barricades with the speaker's ambivalent solidarity, hinting at redemption through sacrifice.

• Ave Imperatrix

  England's imperial march is depicted as a painful, sacrificial climb, with the dead soldiers as martyrs for the nation's glory.

• To Milton

  The poem mourns a fallen age and yearns for a lost political and spiritual redemption.

• Louis Napoleon

  The fallen prince's death is redeemed by the 'better laurels of a soldier’s crown' and the kiss of Liberty.

• Sonnet

  Depicts the horrific suffering of Christians—groans, slain priests, children on stones—and appeals for redemption through Christ's might.

• Quantum Mutata

  The poem contrasts past suffering for freedom with present moral decay, suggesting a fall from grace that requires redemption.

• Libertatis Sacra Fames

  The poem laments the loss of 'Arts, Culture, Reverence, Honour' under anarchic rule, suggesting a societal suffering that might require redemption through order.

• Theoretikos

  The speaker's anguish over societal decay leads to a withdrawal into art, a form of personal redemption.

• Sonnet on Approaching Italy

  The speaker's joy at Italy's beauty is undercut by the suffering of the Pope in Rome, evoking a sense of national and spiritual longing for redemption.

• San Miniato

  References to thorns, pain, and shame alongside the desire for death as release suggest a longing for redemption.

• Italia

  Italy's fall and the hope for a divine savior to smite the spoiler.

• Easter Day

  Christ's wandering and suffering are evoked as a counterpoint to the Pope's earthly glory.

• E Tenebris

  The speaker's profound suffering and plea for Christ's redemption.

• Vita Nuova

  The speaker's lament over a painful life and the final vision of glory suggest a journey from suffering to redemption.

• I

  Charmides suffers for his sacrilege, but his death is portrayed as a willing sacrifice for love.

• II

  The Dryad's violent death and Venus's mourning reflect suffering, while the burial and prayers to Proserpine suggest a hope for redemption or peace.

• The Grave of Keats

  Keats is portrayed as a martyr who rests from pain and injustice, finding peace beneath God's veil of blue.

• Ballade de Marguerite

  The speaker's profound suffering over Marguerite's death and the mother's call to let the dead bury the dead suggest a struggle with grief and the possibility of spiritual solace.

• The Dole of the King’s Daughter

  The king's daughter bears seven sins, and the lover's single sin suggests a path through suffering toward possible redemption.

• A Vision

  The unlaureled king is weary with man's moan for sins no victim can atone, and the broken stone sends up lilies, suggesting redemption through suffering.

• II: Queen Henrietta Maria

  The queen's pain and waiting suggest a redemptive endurance through love and loyalty.

• The Fourth Movement

  Evident in 'Apologia' and 'At Verona', where exile, sorrow, and endurance lead to spiritual insight.

• At Verona

  The speaker endures the bitterness of exile and imprisonment but finds redemption through love and the glory of the stars.

• Quia Multum Amavi

  The speaker's suffering as 'sorrow's heritor' and 'lackey in the House of Pain' is tempered by gladness for having loved, suggesting a redemptive quality.

• Taedium Vitae

  The speaker's desire to stand aloof from strife and his reference to sin suggest a longing for redemption from worldly suffering.

• Humanitad

  The speaker laments personal and collective suffering, yet anticipates redemption through the divine human.

• On the Sale by Auction of Keats’ Love Letters

  The parallel to Christ's suffering suggests a sacred dimension to the poet's violated privacy and the desecration of his art.

• The New Remorse

  The speaker's sin and subsequent remorse, along with the arrival of a new lord, suggests a cycle of suffering and potential redemption.

• Poems in Prose

  Central to 'The Doer of Good' and 'The Teacher of Wisdom'; characters who have been healed or saved still suffer from sin or sorrow, and redemption is portrayed as a complex, often paradoxical process.

• The Artist

  The artist transforms his enduring sorrow into a momentary pleasure, suggesting a redemptive act through sacrifice.

• The Doer of Good

  The chapter explores the aftermath of miraculous redemption, questioning whether healing and forgiveness lead to transformed lives or merely enable continued indulgence.

• The Master

  The young man's self-inflicted wounds and ashes symbolize a desire for suffering and recognition, yet he feels denied the ultimate redemptive act of crucifixion.

• The House of Judgment

  The man's life of evil and his inability to be sent to either Hell or Heaven highlights a state of perpetual suffering and the impossibility of redemption.

• The Teacher of Wisdom

  The hermit's sorrow and loss of faith lead to a redemptive encounter where knowledge is replaced by love.

• The Ballad of Reading Gaol

  The prisoner's suffering and contrition are portrayed as a path to spiritual cleansing, with Christ's mercy offered to the broken-hearted.

• I

  The condemned man's psychological torment and the narrator's empathetic suffering evoke a search for meaning and redemption in the face of capital punishment.

• II

  The condemned man's calm acceptance and the prisoners' shared suffering highlight themes of endurance and the search for grace.

• III

  The chapter explores the intense suffering of prisoners awaiting execution, their guilt, and the faint possibility of redemption through prayer and remorse.

• IV

  The chapter explores the suffering of the condemned man and the prisoners, with a glimmer of redemption through Christ's mercy and the mourning of outcasts.

• V

  The chapter explores how physical and spiritual suffering in prison can lead to redemption through a broken heart and divine forgiveness.

• VI

  The condemned man's silent suffering and the hope of being called forth by Christ evoke themes of suffering and potential redemption.