1. What scene is described in the poem? What has brought the speaker to Jenny's room, and what does he tell us about himself and his motives?

2. What effect is served by entitling the poem "Jenny" rather than, say, "A Young Man's Meditations," "A Social Problem," "The Fallen Woman," or some such? How is the effect different from that created by Augusta Webster's title "A Castaway"?

3. What is the poem's rhyme scheme and metrical pattern? How are the stanzas arranged? How do the poet's choices in these matters influence the poem's effect on the reader?

4. What is the speaker's attitude toward Jenny? Why does he compare her to an open book? What do we learn about her alleged attitudes, values and opinions?

5. Why do you thik the author chose to write a monologue in which Jenny herself does not speak? How does the speaker's account of Jenny's past life and present values contrast with that of Webster's "A Castaway"?

6. What is the sequence of the speaker's reflections on prostitution? Whom does he blame for the contdition of women such as Jenny?

8. What metaphors and patterns of imagery does the poet use to discuss her situation? Do these add to the poem's effectiveness?

9. What is the purpose of the speaker's descriptions of his counsin Nell? Why in his view is it impossible for a good woman to look into Jenny's heart? (ll. 250ff).

10. What happens at the end? What are some implications of the final image of Danae and Zeus? What does the speaker seem to mean by "a dark path I can strive to clear?"

11. Some Victorian male reviewers found the poem's speaker to be hypocritical. Do you agree? Does he manifest ambivalence toward Jenny and the causes of prostitution?

12. What may have been Rossetti's intentions in writing his poem? What, if any, do you think are the ways the speaker or reader is expected to address the issue of Victorian prostitution?

13. What are some constratsts between this poem and Webster's "A Castaway"? How does each seek to create a different effect in the mind of the reader?

14. Did you like reading "Jenny"? Do you believe it is a good poem? How may its language and themes reflect the period in which it was written?