Hope is like a harebell trembling from its birth.

Rossetti likens hope to a harebell—a delicate wildflower that quivers easily in the slightest breeze. The simile suggests that hope is inherently fragile and exposed: it “trembles from its birth,” implying vulnerability is not a later development but part of hope’s very nature from the moment it arises. The image also carries a quiet beauty; trembling can indicate sensitivity and responsiveness, not only weakness. In Rossetti’s moral and devotional poetic world, such an image can imply that hope persists despite its precariousness—alive, but easily shaken by fear, doubt, or circumstance.