The depictions of Mariana by Tennyson and in later works are not the same . The difference with Millais 's depiction is not in the image of a forlorn woman or of a woman who is unwilling to live an independent life ; instead , it is her sexualised depiction that is greater than found in Tennyson . His version also remove the dreariness of Tennyson 's and replace it with a scene filled with vibrant colours . Gaskell 's depiction is of Ruth is similar to Tennyson in her weariness and wanting to die . However , she is a sexually independent figure when she reject her lover who have returned . Tennyson 's character , on the other hand , would likely have happily accepted her lover . While Tennyson 's character cannot recognise beauty within nature , Gaskell 's character is able to turn to nature to gain spiritually in a manner similar to the Romantic poems , including Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth or This Lime @-@ Tree Bower My Prison by Samuel Taylor Coleridge . There is also a connection with Mariana 's condition and the condition within Coleridge 's Dejection : An Ode . However , the narrator at the end of Dejection is able to be roused into movement whereas Mariana never reach that point . Furthermore , Mariana is unlike the Romantic poems because the character is not one with nature or able to achieve transcendence through imagination . Furthermore , there is little outside of Mariana that exist within the poem as Mariana 's mood do not respond to changes in nature .