ENG 463 Christina Rossetti
From WolfWikis
Meghan Barrett
Introduction
Christina Rossetti was born in London on December 5, 1830. She became one of the most influential poets of all time, with such works as "The Goblin Market" (1862), "The Prince's Progress" (1866), "Sing-Song A Nursery Rhyme Book" (1872), along with many other individual poems. Her work put her in the same league as her contemporary, Emily Dickinson, who ironically, was born just five days after Rossetti. Much of her work in the 1850's and 1860's were associated with the women's rights movement. Christina was not the only Rossetti child who became well known for her work; her brother, Dante Gabriel, became an artist, who was known to use Christina's beautiful face for many of his sketches. Christina Rossetti was ill off and on throughout most of her life. Much of her illness could perhaps be due to the fact that she was forced to stay at home and care for her father; some say her illness was a form of rebellion. Christina Rossetti eventually died of cancer on December 29, 1894.
Topics
Class, Tradition, and Money
Christina Rossetti wrote a popular nursery rhyme book titled, "Sing Song A Nursery Rhyme Book". Written for children, the book contains several light-hearted poems about colors, the alphabet, and a great deal of other things. She writes one regarding the currency in England at the time, titled "What will you give me for my pound?"
What will you give me for my pound?
Full twenty shillings round.
What will you give me for my shilling?
Twelve pence to give I'm willing.
What will you give me for my penny?
Four farthings, just so many.
Better off than some during this time, the Rossettis were a part of the middle class. Christina's father, Gabriel Rossetti, was from a working class family. After Gabriel was exiled from Italy, due to his association with Napolean, he came to London in 1824 and began working as an Italian teacher. Frances Lavinia, Christina's mother, who worked as a governess before marrying, came from a much wealthier family. Christina's grandfather achieved professional status working as a teacher and made enough money to leave Frances with an annual income after his death. This was somewhat of a rare family dynamic, seeing as Frances was very well educated and economically independant. It wasn't until Gabriel fell ill in 1843 and had to leave his job at King's College, that Francis had to go to work as a language teacher. Christina's older sister, Maria, went to work as a governess.
The job of a governess is considered somewhat similar to that of a nanny, however a governess focused more on educating the children. Working as a governess was considered an ideal job to have when one was a part of the middle class and needed to make additional income. However, it was a somewhat akward position to hold, seeing as a governess was never considered a part of that family, no matter how close she became with the children, and was often looked at as a servant. Women, during the time of the Victorian Period, were only considered feminine if they were domestic. Earning a salary and working outside of the home was against the norm during this time, which is why many of the young female authors of this time, such as Charlotte Bronte, made governess's out to be heroines in their novels.
Working Life
In the 1850's, the revolt of the idle woman was surfacing. Rossetti was emerging as a poet during the time of the woman's reform movement. Fewer women in England were marrying, despite the fact that the pressure for a middle class woman to marry was great. Marrying meant a loss of property rights, along with their own earnings. In turn, there was a large increase of single woman who were economically dependant. There were many critics, one being a man by the name of William Rathbone Greg. Greg wrote an article, "Why are Women Redundant?", which stated that redundant women were those who missed the opportunity to serve their natural role as a wife. Being single was considered unnatural to Greg. It was stated in this article that the greatest number of redundant women could be found in the lower middle class, which is the class Christina Rossetti belonged.
The jobs available to women during this time were somewhat limited. One could work as a governess or as a seamstress. Several of women's activities became professionalized. One in particular had a great meaning to Christina Rossetti. Sick nursing is an acitivty that was professionalized through the strong-minded Florence Nightingale. Rossetti applied for Nightingale's campaign and was rejected, partly because she was too young. Instead of governessing, she helped her mother, Frances, by working in two day-schools that her mother managed. Her experience through these jobs qualified her for joining Nightingale's ranks. She became exactly what Greg, along with many other critics, was afraid of: an unnatural woman. She had to deal with financial stress and a demanding job. Rossetti maintained self-respect by writing during this time. Her themes during this time were mainly of self-reliance, selflessness, and selfishness for women. She wrote one of her first works at this time, Maude, which certainly had an autobiographical tone to it. It was written in 1850, just after she turned twenty. It is about a young woman who struggles to resist the duties of women during this time, such as domesticity. At the beginning of the story, the heroine, Maude, reads a sonnet:
Yes, I too could face death and never shrink.
But it is harder to bear hated life;
To strive with hands and knees weary of strife;
To drag the heavy chain whose every link
Galls to the bone; to stand upon the brink
Of the deep grave, not drowse tho’ it be rife
With sleep; to hold with steady hand the knife
Not strike home: - this is courage, as I think.
Surely to suffer is more than to do.
To do is quickly done: to suffer is
Longer and fuller of heart-sicknesses.
Each day’s experience testifies of this.
Good deeds are many, but good lives are few:
Thousands taste the full cup; who drains the lees?
There is a meloncholic tone to many of Rossetti's poems, this being one of them. Here, the poem articulates her struggle, and that of the heroine in Maude, to stay away from what was expected of her, such as marriage and a life at home.
Science and the Urban World
The Victorian Period was a time of great technological advances. People were able to travel greater distances in less time, due to the use of trains and steamships. Electricity brought forth the use of the light bulb, which was also introduced during this time period. Because of technology, the changes socially and economically were drastic. While many people welcomed these changes, there were quite a few who were critical. Some believed that techonology made it more difficult to really see the beauty in things, like nature. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was formed with the intention of making people see their love of exact truth in nature.
The Brotherhood was founded in 1948. The original members, which included John Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and William Hunt, were all extrememly young. The ages ranged between nineteen and twenty-three years old. Not too long after the Brotherhood was created did more people join. Other artists and writers, such as William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Thomas Woolner, and Frederic Stephens, wanted to be a part of what they considered, a reform movement. Christina Rossetti, who already had two brothers as members as this movement, was officially excluded from the Brotherhood. However, according to Rosenblum's book, Christina Rossetti, The Poetry of Endurance, unofficially, she was one of its earliest successes.
In an attempt to spread the word about their thoughts and beliefs, the PRB created a magazine, which was titled The Germ: Thought towards Nature in Poetry, Literature and Art. This magazine, which debuted in 1850, was where Christina Rossetti, at nineteen, really came before the public. Two of her poems were used in the first volume of the magazine. "Dream Land" and "An End" were two poems that were perfect models of the Pre-Raphaelite aesthetic. Both poems were said to represent "a split between the visual spectacle and the invisible reality, or between a present immobility and a future transfiguration" (Rosenblum). More of her poems appeared in the following numbers of the magazine. "A Pause for Thought", which was written when she was just seventeen, was used in the second number. Christina Rossetti went under the pseudonym of Ellen Alleyne, which was at the request of Dante Gabriel.
Exerpt from "An End":
Love, strong as Death, is dead.
Come, let us make his bed
Among the dying flowers:
A green turf at his head;
And a stone at his feet,
Whereon we may sit
In the quiet evening hours.
He was born in the Spring,
And died before the harvesting:
On the last warm summer day
He left us; he would not stay
For Autumn twilight cold and grey.
Sit we by his grave, and sing
He is gone away.
The Germ was published in four numbers between January and May of 1850. The first number printed 700 copies and the second printed only 500 due to poor sales. The sales continued to decrease during the thrird and fourth numbers, which forced the journal to close down. The Brotherhood owed more money than they made off of the magazine. William Michael Rossetti, Christina's brother, acted as editor of the magazine. He stated that the magazine was "too good-that is to say, too refined and too lofty a class, both in its art and in its poetry- to be sufficiently popular to pay even the printer's bill." Even though it never made much money, it was still noticed, having been mentioned in many other magazines and newspapers at that time. Many people were in support of what the Brotherhood was trying to do with the magazine. Unfortunately, many of the positive feedback was given after The Germ had already come to an end. Michael Rossetti mentioned one critic in particular (he cannot recall his name) that wrote of how much he admired the magazine. He wrote that the journal's aim "is high and pure. No one can walk along our streets and not see how debased and sensual our tastes have become. A school or artists who attempt to bring back the popular taste to the severe draperies and pure forms of art are at least deserving of encouragement."
Government and the Law
During the 1850's and 1860's, women interested in reform started to gather together. They were tired of being excluded from the workforce, and not having the opportunity to become more involved in political, professional, and educational aspects of society. These radicals and reformers, that Christina Rossetti knew personally, believed that by focusing their attention on the legal rights of marriage and divorce, they would be able to achieve more economic independance. Their plan consisted of trying to change the legal situation of married women, so that they could benefit from employment. This came at a time when a woman become invisible. According to The Daily Life in Victorian England, a woman no longer existed. Everything that was hers before the marriage was now her husband's; she had no right to spend the money she earned. She could not sign any contract and she had no custody or rights to her own children. It was believed that women did not take up a large portion of the workforce due to the fact that they were not able to keep their own earnings. In 1870 women were able to control their own income. The Married Woman's Property Act was originally pushed in 1856, by the Langham Place Group, but it was not until 1882 that women were able to maintain the rights of their estate after marriage. The Divorce Reform Bill of 1858 also helped women in bad marriages get a divorce so that they could attempt to become economically independent.
Even though Christina Rossetti was engaged twice, she never married, due to her religious beliefs. She was able to maintain far more rights than married women, even with the help of the Reform Bill and Property Act. There are many poems by Rossetti that are interpreted as anti-marriage. She reflects the focus on marriage reform movement at the time and is able to see the limitations on women's self-reliance and economic independence. Poems such as "Cousin Kate", "A Triad", "Maude Claire", "The Iniquity of the Fathers Upon the Children" were considered a part of the anti-marriage group, along with the famous "Goblin Market", which served as a critique of marriage, romance, and the capitalist society.
I think my mind is fixed
On one point and made up:
To accept my lot unmixed;
Never to drug the cup
But drink it by myself.
I’ll not be wooed for pelf;
I’ll not blot out my shame
With any man’s good name;
But nameless as I stand,
My hand is my own hand,
And nameless as I came
I go to the dark land.
Above is an exerpt from "The Iniquity of the Fathers Upon the Children". The poem is about a young, illegitimate girl who has been abandoned by her parents and goes through a process that ends in realization and understanding. This poem touches on patriarchal law which allows the father to abandon children out of wedlock. Rossetti gives the young girl a voice and a mind that rejects marriage. The girl vows to remain a single woman and refuses to be defined by a man.
House, Food, and Clothes
Christina Rossetti spent most of her childhood between two places: Charlotte Street and Holmer Green. Her parents, Francis and Gabriele Rossetti, bought a house on Charlotte Street in London when they first married. Here they had all four of their children. In 1836, Gabriele decided that it was necessary to move to a bigger house...down the street. They moved from 38 Charlotte Street to 50 Charlotte Street. Gabriele writes in a letter to a friend, "I was obliged to make this change; my family has got to a stage that it is necessary at all costs to seperate the boys from the girls, and in the old house we couldn't do so". According to Mitchell's Daily Life in Victorian England, upper middle class families lived in a house with no less than ten rooms. The Rossetti's, whose financial situation over the years fluctuated greatly, met the requirements of a proper upper-middle class house. There were two rooms on the ground floor, two on the first floor, five or six bedrooms on the second and third floors, and then a kitchen in the basement.
The Rossetti family spent much time at Grandfather Polidori's house at Holmer Green. Christina and her siblings would sometimes travel there with just their mother, leaving Gabriele by himself. Christina states later on in life to friend Mackenzie Bell that the garden at Holmer Green greatly effected her imagination. Polidori eventually moved to Reagent's Park in London, a short distance from where the Rossetti family resided. The cottage, according to Gabriele was marvelous, with "white marble mantlepieces, fireplaces of polished steel...and drains so good that the landlord says there are no better in the kingdom". He added "our house is sepulchre in comparison with it."
Christina Rossetti did not spend all of her adult life on Charlotte Street. She and her family eventually moved to 30 Torrington Square, where she lived for a majority of her life. Torrington Square, nicknamed "Torrington Oblong" by Dante Gabriel, fir in with the ordinary, dull-colored bricks used for so many London houses and because of time, weather, and soot, it was impossible to know what the original color had been. Christina was very much a recluse, but there were still many people that came to visit her in this house. Mackenzie Bell was one of them and commented on the house in a book her wrote about Christina Rossetti. He states:
- "I have always felt that when houses were inhabited by persons of idiosyncrasy, or genius, they acquire in some inexplicable way some of the characteristics of their occupants...and never has this felling come upon me more strongly than in respect to Christina Rossetti's residence. About much of her best work there is a quietude, a controlled and well-ordered sadness, and I trust I shall not be deemed unduly fanciful when I say that I seemed to feel a like atmosphere whenever I entered her abode".
Rossetti's personal habits were simple. She rose early, dined at one or two o'clock, taking a third meal in the evening. Some believe that the simplicity and regularity of her life was probably the cause of the considerable recuperative power which frequently suprised her physician during her illnesses. Simplicity seemed to be an adjective used quite a bit for Christina. It applied to her choice of wardrobe as well. When Mackenzie Bell first looked at Christina, she was wearing a "black silk dress, she wore no ornaments of any sort, and the prevailing sombre tint was only relieved by some simple white frilling at the throat and wrists." Her attire was refered to by a Mr. Shary as Quaker like, due to the "simplicity of her dress and the extreme and almost demure plainess of the material." She dressed this way only partly because it was all she could afford, but also because she did not consider herself a vain woman. She never really cared to impress those around her with such materialistic things as fancy clothes. Perhaps she did not care much for vanity because there was no need for it; Rossetti had been told throughout her life that she was a beauty.
"Freaks of Fashion"
Such a hubbub in the nests,
Such a bustle and squeak !
Nestlings, guiltless of a feather,
Learning just to speak,
Ask — " And how about the fashions ? "
From a cavernous beak.
Perched on bushes, perched on hedges,
Perched on firm hahas,
Perched on anything that holds them,
Gay papas and grave mammas
Teach the knowledge-thirsty nestlings :
Hear the gay papas.
Robin says : "A scarlet waistcoat
Will be all the wear,
Snug, and also cheerful-looking
For the frostiest air,
Comfortable for the chest too
When one comes to plume and pair. "
The above poem comes from the book, "A Pageant and Other Poems". These poems were far less sorrowful than many of her other poems. This particular poem is quite playful. A recital of how birds met and discussed what was considered to be the more fashionable garments to wear. This poem has been said to be about nature. But perhaps this is a poem about human nature. In society, one wants to be a part of a higher social class, and one can easily look the part with the right clothes. The idea of vanity is a ridiculous social norm in Victorian society, as well as one in today's, and Rossetti is pointing out how absurd it all is by paralleling Victorian women to birds that flit around and have conversations about what they should wear.
Family and Social Rituals
Education
Living in a home with three other siblings very close in age (all four children were born between 1827-1930)can be especially difficult for some. Her mother, Frances, who worked as a governess, took it upon herself to educate her children. Frances was one who had great passion for intellect and placed a high value on it; this perhaps could explain the competitiveness that emerged at times amongst the children. The two eldest children, Dante and Maria, were considered the most intellectually gifted as children. William Michael Rossetti recalls in his memoir the many occasions in which Dante would boast to family members and friends, at seven, about how he, Maria, and William could all recite several scenes from Richard III by heart. Dante wrote blank verse dialogue at the tender age of five and Maria could read both English and Italian when she was five as well. There was much embarassment for William, who's aunt had to tutor him at age six because he could not yet read. Here is when he began to form an extremely close bond with Christina, who was constantly criticized by Dante and Maria for being the least bookish out of all four. Christina once wrote to a critic by the name of Edmund Gosse: "Whilst our 'school' was everything, it was no one definite thing. I, as the rest of the group, may remind you that besides the clever and cultivated parents who headed us all, I in particular beheld far ahead of myself the clever sister and two clever brothers who were little my seniors. As to acquirements, I lagged out of all proportion behind them, and have never overtaken them to this day".
It was not as though Christina was not a brilliant child, for she is considered by many to be a genius in her own right, it was that she did not place the same level of importance on education that her siblings did; as stated earlier, she felt as though she was educated and inspired most when she walked around her grandfather's cottage grounds. Gosse writes of a conversation he held with Christina in Critical Kit-Kats about how "all throughout her early girlhood she lay as a passive weight on the hands of those who invited her to explore those bosky groves called arithmetic, grammar, and the use of globes". Her literary strides may not have been impressive as those of her older siblings, however, Christina could read the poems of Metastasi in Italian when she was ten. She was very well versed in Shakespeare and Byron. Her first poem was written in 1842 at eleven years old titled To My Mother, which, as simple as it was, showed a great deal of imagination and creativity, which are characteristics directly related to one's intelligence. The primary subject covered by the Rossetti children was literature, which had an effect on Christina's ability to comprehend the abstract in the written word.
To My Mother
To-day’s your natal day,
Sweet flowers I bring;
Mother, accept, I pray,
My offering.
And may you happy live,
And long us bless;
Receiving as you give
Great happiness.
As she got older, she created a collection of children's rhymes in Sing-Song, which, as stated by Julia Touche on Victorian Web, was written at a time when "children's education was dominated by male-written texts and moral instruments". This book of poems can be regarded as her way of educating young ones, with poems that address subjects that children study at an early age. It also can be seen as a collection of her own memories of the lessons she learned from her mother; some of which focused more on how one acts and speaks.
Poem from Sing-Song:
How many seconds in a minute?
Sixty, and no more in it.
How many minutes in an hour?
Sixty for sun and shower.
How many hours in a day?
Twenty-four for work and play.
How many days in a week?
Seven both to hear and speak.
How many weeks in a month?
Four, as the swift moon runn'th.
How many months in a year?
Twelve the almanack makes clear.
How many years in an age?
One hundred says the sage.
How many ages in time?
No one knows the rhyme.
Health and Medicine
From April 1871 until 1873, Christina Rossetti suffered from Grave's disease. For those two years her life was in constant danger.
On November 24th in a letter he wrote, William Rossetti writes, "The thing that is essentially the matter with her now is connected with the heart, though not amounting strictly to heart disease. The swelling of the throat and other symptoms depend on this malady."
December 14th: "Dr. Fox saw Christina again today and pronounces her progressively and even considerably improving".
March 16th: "Christina is miserably exhausted now, as to all such matters as appetite, strength...causing us all grave anxiety; yet it seems that the lump outside the throat has diminished."
He speaks of how her voice changed; how, due to her illness, she now reads history books, which she avoided up until she became ill; and how her looks have changed. He notes in another letter to a friend, "One of the most annoying outward symptoms of Christina's illness is the enormous protrusion of the eyes, is now very sensibly diminished". Christina became an invalid and spent most of her life from this point on in the comfort of her home.
According to Answers.com, "Because she suffered long and frequent periods of poor health, Rossetti came to regard life as physically and emotionally painful". Christina Rossetti looked forward to death both as a release and as the possible moment of joyful union with God and with those she had loved and lost, like her grandfather. She focused a great deal on the idea of death, which became a prominent theme in poems like Uphill, When I am Dead My Dearest, and many more.
Up-Hill
Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day's journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.
But is there for the night a resting-place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.
May not the darkness hide it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.
Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?
Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when 'ust in sight?
They will not keep you standing at that door.
Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labor you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.
She suffered from bouts of depression throughout her life, but did not become very ill again until 1892. Her health broke down after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Rossetti had surgery for her cancer in 1892. Her death was long and painful. She was released from her pain on December 29th, 1894, but not before writing one of her last poems, Sleeping at Last, which details a tired soul, ready to rest.
Sleeping at Last
Sleeping at last, the trouble and tumult over,
Sleeping at last, the struggle and horror past,
Cold and white, out of sight of friend and of lover,
Sleeping at last.
No more a tired heart downcast or overcast,
No more pangs that wring or shifting fears that hover,
Sleeping at last in a dreamless sleep locked fast.
Fast asleep. Singing birds in their leafy cover
Cannot wake her, nor shake her the gusty blast.
Under the purple thyme and the purple clover
Sleeping at last.
Holidays, Sports, and Recreation
Holidays
Christina was an extremely religious woman, so it is no surprise that she wrote a good deal on this subject. Her religious beliefs inspired her to write a few poems about Christmas.
"Christmas Eve"
Christmas hath a darkness
Brighter than the blazing noon,
Christmas hath a chillness
Warmer than the heat of June,
Christmas hath a beauty
Lovelier than the world can show:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.
Earth, strike up your music,
Birds that sing and bells that ring;
Heaven hath answring music
For all Angels soon to sing:
Earth, put on your whitest
Bridal robe of spotless snow:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.
Her poems surrounding this theme were sometimes read during church services. At the Francis W. Parker School in Chicago, Illinois, a church service was organized by the students. On the program it stated that Christina Rossetti's poem "A Christmas Carol" was to be read by an eleventh grader at mass. This was in 1918, a little over twenty years after her death, and already her poetry had made it's way over to the United States and into church services.
"A Christmas Carol"
In The bleak mid-winter
Frosty winds made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter,
Long ago.
Our God, Heaven cannot hold Him
Nor earth sustain;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When he comes to reign:
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty
Jesus Christ.
Sports and Recreation
Christina did not spend much of her time playing a variety of sports. Christina did a lot of walking, like many of the women during this time, rather than indulge in competitive sports. Although there were not many sports for her to chose from when she was young because according to Mitchell, it was not until later on in the century that women started playing tennis or other sports and by this time Christina did not come out of her house. Prior to becoming an invalid and spending most of her time in her house, Christina spent a good amount of time in Regent's Park. However, Christina did not go to Regent's Park to exercise her body, she went because the beauty of nature inspired her. She also made trips to the Zoological Gardens. Christina enjoyed her time there, but felt sorry for the imprisoned animals. According to her friend, Isabella Mayo, Rossetti said that the birds should sing "plaintive verses". According to Mayo, it was at Holmer's End, her grandfather's home, in which "she got her first revelation of the beauty of genuine nature and the first inspiration of her love and sympathy for the undomesticated animal creation. For animals nearer to us, she had already learned a tender affection, for some of her earliest verses, written when she was about sixteen, were 'On the Death of a Cat, a friend of mine, aged ten years and a half.'"
Religion and Reform
Religion was the dominant theme in Rossetti's poetry. She was extremely spiritual and made many of her life's decisions based on her religion. Rossetti sacrificed a great deal in the name of her faith.
Felix Emmanuel Schelling wrote in The English Lyric, "It has been well said that Christina Rossetti alone among the important poets of the reign carried in her 'the fullness of faith'...Christina Rossetti's faith-and faith is the best part of her poetry- like the overtones of a vibrated string, adjusts all thoughts to the love of God. It is this together with the sincerity and purity of her art that keeps her from the morbid, the grotesque, and the despairing".
According to the website, Books and Writers, "Rossetti's deeply religious temperament left its marks on her writing. She was a devout High Anglican, much influenced by the Tractarian, or Oxford, Movement. Rossetti broke engagement to the artist James Collison, an original member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, when he joined the Roman Catholic church. She also rejected Charles Bagot Cayley for religious reasons". The decision to break off the engagement to Caylay was undoubtedly difficult. According to Michael Rossetti, "Although she would not be his wife,no woman ever loved a man more deeply or more constantly". She chose to remain loyal to her faith, which seemed to command a larger part of her heart than Cayley ever could, which she explains in greater detail in her sonnet Monna Innominata. However, the two did remain close friends until his death.
Monna Innominata
Trust me, I have not earned your dear rebuke,
I love, as you would have me, God the most.
Would lose not him, but you, must one be lost,
Nor with Lot's wife cast back a faithless look
Unready to forego what I forsook.
This say I, having counted up the cost;
This, though 't be the feeblest of God's host,
The sorriest sheep Christ shepherds with his crook,
Yet, while I love my God the most, I deem
That I can never love you over much:
I love him more, so let me love you too;
Yea, as I apprehend it, love is such
I cannot love you if I love not him,
I cannot love him if I love not you.
Christina owned a copy of John Henry Newman's Dream of Gerontius, and shortly after his death in 1890, she wrote a sonnet to honor him. This was a bit odd seeing as how Newman, after years of being an Anglican priest, converted to the Roman Catholic church. Although this goes to show that Newman's influence on the Anglican church was great and widely followed, even after he went to Catholicism and that people as devout to the Anglican church as Christina would still follow his teachings.
There are too many poems Rossetti wrote, in which religion was the predominant theme, to list. However, many consider "Sleep at Sea", "A Better Resurrection", "Advent", and "Old and New Year Ditties" to be among the best not only of her poems, but among the greatest of all religious poems. The third stanza of "Old and New Year Ditties" is listed by many to be some of the finest religious lyrics.
Last stanza in "Old and New Year Ditties":
Passing away, saith my God, passing away,
Winter passeth after the long delay;
New grapes on the vine, new figs on the tender spray,
Turtle calleth turtle in Heaven's May.
Though I tarry, wait for me, watch and pray,
Arise, come away, night is past, and lo, it is day,
My love, my Sister, my Spouse, thou shalt hear me say.
Then I answered Yea.
Rossetti served as Dante's model in many of his paintings. She was the model for the Virgin Mary in two of his paintings, most notably the Annunciation.
Victorian Morality
Sex was not something that was openly discussed in the Victorian Period. It was a controversial subject matter, and it was cast in more of a negative light. Christina Rossetti was a very religious woman, who took time out for social work, where she spent time with young prostitutes, however she was not as prude as some critics have made her out to be. Through her poems, one can see that Rossetti thought a great deal about sex. Her poems were not just about heterosexual love and sex; another theme that appeared in her poetry was lesbianism. "Goblin Market" is considered one of Rossetti's greatest accomplishments and it is this same poem that goes into the idea of "sisterly love". England at this time was not accepting of those who behaved in a lude or outrageous way; speaking about sex is considered both. Rossetti and her work was not considered scandalous, mostly due to the fact that sex was hidden under various guises of religious proverb and children's verse. Some critics believe that Rossetti's mention of sex was done subconsciously. However, it seems very unlikely that Rossetti was unaware of the sexual theme she was infusing into her poetry. Looking at exerpts from "Goblin Market", it's clear that she knew exactly what she was writing about.
Due to the fact that this is Rossetti's masterpiece, there are many different interpretations of the poem. A convincing interpretation revolves around capitalism. In the eyes of many critics, "Goblin Market" is about the women's encounter with the male marketplace. The characters Lizzie, Laura, and Jeanie represent different types of country and village women whose lives are greatly affected by capitalism. Goblin-merchant men represent capitalism. "Goblin Market" is represented from a woman's point of view regarding the market relation, which is shown as an emotional manipulation, as well as a sexual violation. These abused women, like so many during this time in England, become dependant on the same networks that abuse them. The goblins try to entice them with fruit, attempting to foster dependancy. Her views against the patriarchal market relations are tied in with her views on sisterhood and female love. Rossetti wrote on women's exploration of their own sensual nature. Through this relationship, these two young women are able to experience pleasure and find erotic and emotional release. There is a scene that is unprecedented in Victorian literature, due to its bold physicality, in which Laura is sucking the juice from the goblin's fruit off of Lizzie's body:
"She clung to her sister,
Kissed and kissed and kissed her;
Tears once again
Refreshed her shrunken eyes;
Dropping like rain
After long sultry drouth;
Shaking with anguish fear, and pain,
She kissed and kissed with a hungry mouth."
Rossetti shows the readers that through bonding together, women could defend themselves against capitalism. Rossetti is essentially warning women of all classes that male-dependancy will result in a kind of self-destruction; anti-marriage is an underlying theme in the poem as well. It is interesting to think of how Rossetti was able to write a poem like this during such a prude time period, and not be shunned for it. She was already considered a "redundant" woman, since she was not married, but that is about the only thing in her life that was looked down upon by the general public. The dominant view of society was that a woman should marry a man. In this poem, not only is Rossetti supporting the autonomy of women, but she uses lesbianism in order to play up the power of females and love. The critic Jerome J. McGann states that Rossetti used "Christian material...to mediate for the audience the peom's primary arguements about love, marriage, sisterhood, and friendship" (Victorian Studies, 245). From my interpretation of this poem, along with reading through many other critics views, this statement is a bit odd, seeing as how this poem isn't really about marriage or heterosexual love. Though, perhaps that is how the general public read it, which could be how Rossetti escaped any potential hostility. It really seems as though Rossetti used the material relating to marriage to (using some of McGann's words) mediate for the audience the primary arguments about sisterhood, women's autonomy, and the power women have to survive the male-dominated market.
England and Empire
According to Jan Marsh's introduction in Poems and Prose, Christina Rossetti "was opposed to war, slavery, cruelty to animals, the exploitation of underage female prostitutes, and all forms of military aggression". This opposition came at a time when England's military was fighting in the Crimean War; so it was considered by some to be quite radical. Her poems on war address such themes as just and unjust war. Rossetti considered most wars unjust, with the exception of the American Civil War, due to the fact that she believed slavery should be ebolished.
Rossetti wrote poems about war since she was about twelve. In a book about Dante Gabriel, William wrote in the memoir that both he and Dante had a school assignment to write a composition on the subject of China during the Anglo-Chinese Opium War. From this assignment, Rossetti wrote "The Chinaman".
Rossetti wrote of exclusion in her poem "Repining". There's no doubt her father came to mind while she wrote this poem, seeing as he was an exile. However, in this poem, Rossetti rejects war instead of acting like a hero in liberty's defense, since she believed the stakes of war were far too high.
When the Crimean War broke out, Rossetti was emotionally distraught. Her father and grand-parents had all died a year before the war, she was twenty-four, unmarried, and economically dependant on her family. She tried to use the Crimean War as a campaign of sorts so that she could resolve her own personal dilemmas by being productive. Her rejection from becoming a part of Florence Nightingale's nurses shattered those hopes and she didn't write for many months. However, when she did pick up the pen again, she wrote of the war. Macmillan's Magazine published "The Lowest Room" which is about two sisters discussing the most important current event: war. One sister is against Christian wars, since they don't provide women with good "sport" and they aren't heroic. The other sister, a more feminine and conventional type, argues no war is really heroic, since they are all bestial. This poem was criticized by many, even by her brother Dante, who said it was very masculine in style.
This poem was connected to the American Civil War, since slavery in America was parallel to women's postions in society. Rossetti and her brother William stood with the small segment of London that sided with the Yankees and in his "Memoir" of Christina, he states how she shared his abolitionist views. Most of England sided with the Confederacy. A woman by the name of Emily Faithfull founded the first women's press, The Victoria Press, in 1860 (Unseen Hands: Women Printers, Binders, and Book Designers). It published a volume of poetry in 1863 in order to gain abolitionist support from the Lancashire districts. Rossetti's poem, "A Royal Princess", about how a privileged woman comes to support a peasant uprising against her father, the king, was included in this volume. The princess's generosity never changes the injustice put forth by her father on society, however she is regarded as a hero since she risks her own standing and reputation in order to support the right principles.
Exerpt from "A Royal Princess":
With a ransom in my lap, a king's ransom in my hand,
I will go down to this people, will stand face to face, will stand
Where they curse king, queen, and princess of this cursed land.
They shall take all to buy them
bread, take all I have to give;
I, if I perish, perish; they to-day shall eat and live;
I, if I perish, perish; that's the goal I half conceive:
Once to speak before the world, rend bare my heart and show
The lesson I have learned which is death, is life, to know.
I, if I perish, perish; in the name of God I go.
In 1870, the Franco-Prussion war began. As a way to get her point across, Rossetti used her common theme of religion and spirituality to show her antiwar views, like in the poem "Thy Brother's Blood Crieth". In Dora Neill Raymond's British Policy and Opinion During the Franco-Prussion War, it is mentioned that "Christina Rossetti was one of the more able who appealed to the armed King William and warned him that vengence is only for the Lord" (237). Christina is critical of war not only because she is Christian, but because she is a woman. Women are excluded from action and all they are supposed to do is wait for the unheroic hero to return, which is why many of her poems are critical of society and of her own powerlessness. The only woman who travels down the right avenue towards effective resistance, is the princess from Rossetti's earlier poem.
References
Class, Tradition, and Money
- Rossetti, Christina. Sing Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book. Dover Publications Inc. New York: 1968.
-Mitchell, Sally. Daily Life in Victorian England. The Greenwood Press. Connecticut: 1996.
Working Life
-Rossetti, Christina. "Selected Prose of Christina Rossetti". Palgrave Macmillan. New York: 1998.
Science and the Urban World
-Rosenblum, Dolores. "Christina Rossetti: The Poetry of Endurance". Southern Illinois University Press. Edwardsville: 1986.
-Rossetti, Christina and Crump, Rebecca. "The Complete Poems". Penguin Group. London: 2001.
Government and Law
-Mitchell 87-100.
-Rossetti, Christina and Crump, Rebecca 158.
House, Food, and Clothes
-Mitchell 108-125.
-Rossetti, Christina and Crump, Rebecca 321.
Education
-Rossetti, Christina and Crump, Rebecca 608.
-Touche, Julia. "Sing Song: More Than Just a Nursery Rhyme Book". The Victorian Web. March 2007. http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/crossetti/touche3.1.html#memory
-Rossetti, Christina. Sing Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book. Dover Publications Inc. New York: 1968.
Health and Medicine
-"Christina Rossetti." Biographies. Answers Corporation, 2006. Answers.com 2 April 2007. http://www.answers.com/topic/christina-rossetti
-Rossetti, Christina and Crump, Rebecca 871.
-"Uphill". Classic Literature. About Incorporated, 2007. About.com 2 April 2007. http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/crossetti/bl-crossetti-up.htm
Holidays, Sports, and Recreation
-Rossetti, Christina and Crump, Rebecca 421, 210.
Religion and Reform
-82, 294.
-"Christina Rossetti". Books and Writers. 3 April 2007. http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rossetti.htm
Victorian Morality
-Rossetti, Christina and Crump, Rebecca 5.
-McGann, Jerome. "Christina Rossetti's Poems: A New Edition and a Revaluation". Victorian Studies, 23. (1980): 245.
England and Empire
-"Women Printers, Binders, and Book Designers". Unseen Hands. Princeton University Library. 20 April 2007. http://infoshare1.princeton.edu/rbsc2/ga/unseenhands/.