Globinmarket
Born in London on December 5, 1830, Christina Georgina Rossetti was the younger sister of the famous Pre-Raphaelite painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, for whom she often served as a model. Her family encouraged Rossetti and her brothers to read, draw, and write poetry. Her grandfather published Rossetti's first volume of poetry when she was 17.
During her adolescence Rossetti, her mother, and her sister became deeply committed to the Anglican Church (Church of England), and her religious beliefs played an important part in her life and writing. Rossetti broke off an engagement in 1848 because of religious differences with her fiancé. In 1866 she refused to marry a man she had loved deeply for years because he lacked sufficient religious conviction. Rossetti's religious beliefs did not make her stuffy or unpleasant, however. She maintained a wry sense of humor and a kind, tolerant manner throughout her life, even during periods of intense personal suffering.
For most of her life Rossetti lived quietly, writing poetry and working for charitable causes. Although she could not imagine full equality for women, she was always conscious of gender issues and worked for a number of women's causes.
After publishing poetry in several periodicals, Rossetti published Goblin Market, and Other Poems in 1862. Other volumes of poetry, fiction, and essays followed, including Sing-Song, a book of nursery rhymes, in 1872. Rossetti's poetry often concerns personal conflicts and emotions. Frequently her poems express a need to renounce worldly pleasures, and even romantic love, in favor of spiritual unity with God. Her best and best-known poem, Goblin Market, illustrates her typical combination of lush, almost sensuous detail with a sense of spirituality and renunciation. She died of cancer on December 29, 1894, in London.
II OVERVIEW
For more than a hundred years Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market has fascinated teachers and critics while...
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