Essay on the presentation of Nature in Rossetti’s poems.

‘Compare the way Rossetti presents nature in her poems.’ 

Christina Rossetti was a Victorian poet who had very passionate views of life, society, love and religion. These views were often expressed in her poetry through the use of a persona. This persona was used as a cloak for Rossetti as it helped her to express her opinions and views of society without fear of getting into trouble for stating them. Rossetti presents nature as a thing of purity and beauty in her poems. She also uses nature to represent God’s power and importance (as a high Anglican Rossetti put religion at the centre of her life). Keats was a huge influence on Rossetti and like him, she was heavily inspired by nature and even at times romanticised it to present love and other themes as such. Overall, Rossetti uses nature to express her views on inequality within society and the pressure put onto women within a patriarchal society.

In Rossetti’s poem ‘Paradise: In a dream’ she writes about an unreal utopian paradise that she has imagined. Although it is obvious that this place doesn’t exist Rossetti goes into extremely fine detail about how perfect it is. The amount of detail Rossetti goes into about this place makes it seem like it actually exists. Of course, it only exists in her imagination though. This leads to the idea that perhaps this place could be representing heaven. Because although it is not known for certain whether it actually exists, the imagery of it is so powerful that it leads us to believe that it does exist or at least it does in some context. This conclusion has been drawn from the fact that she draws beauty out of every aspect of nature – bird songs ‘full of grace’, ‘perfect violet’, ‘perfume bearing rose’. The fact that bird songs are ‘full of grace’ gives an overall feeling of God’s presence, and ‘perfect’ violets imply the idea of a flawless place filled with infinite beauty. The effect of her doing this leads us to believe that these objects and feelings are so blissful and perfect that the only thing that they can be overall representing is heaven.

In this poem Rossetti also uses nature to represent Jesus/God – ‘The Tree of Life , the fact this line is placed directly at the centre of the poem shows that Rossetti believed that Christ was at the centre of everything, especially nature. Rossetti chooses to represent Christ as the ‘Tree of Life’ that is also ‘Budding’ because it shows that with God at his side he fertilised the perfect world by saving us all from sin and sacrificing himself for us to live and grow. Trees are also associated as being Tall, height is a symbol of power and importance, this can be linked to God through the idea that God resides in the sky above us, and we have to look up to him, just as people have to look up to see the top of a tree. The fact that the tree is ‘Budding’ shows the promise of new life given to us by God, it is seen to be a magnificent gift. Rossetti’s belief in God is extremely emphasised within this metaphor and shows the reader exactly how dedicated to God Rossetti actually was.

Evaluation of a valid critical review of Christina Rossetti’s poem ‘Goblin Market.’

The review being evaluated is by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra and is called ‘Modern Markets for Goblin Market.’  (Review found on JSTOR)

• 
  Rossetti’s best known poem tells the story of a girl called Laura, who exchanges a lock of her hair for luscious goblin fruit which almost results in her death. And her sister, Lizzie, braves the horrifying goblin market to retrieve the needed antidote for her sister without the loss of a golden curl or silver penny.
• 
  
• Sexual reference taboo in children’s literature.
• “Come buy” – children (juvenile), adult fantasies (pornographic), scholars (academic).
• 2 Distinct readers, adult and child. Meaning the poem will be interpreted in different ways to suit the reader.
• The illustrations of the poem have changed the genre and interpretations of the text.
• The pictures transform the text into adult fantasies or children’s fairy tales, depending on the reader’s interpretation.
• It’s a fable or fairy tale.
• OR perhaps it is an allegory against the pleasures of sinful love.
• Children’s Literature.
• Modern representations of Rossetti believe her to have been an isolated and repressed spinster with no sexual experience. This has led to the idea of innocence in the poem, and therefore making it appropriate for children.
• Sexual subtext for adults.
• ‘Goblin Market’ has been distributed in the modern day pornography market.
• In the last 20 years 2 explicit versions of this poem have been published for this market.
• It has also been published for academic markets.
• Pre- Raphaelite aesthetic.
• The reviewer for the Catholic World objected to the poem on the grounds that it was morally deficient in its symbolic portrayal of the conflict between sense and spirit because it failed to denounce (and properly punish) the human tendency to yield and temptation.

The poem 'Maude Clare' by Christina Rossetti.

‘Maude Clare’ – Christina Rossetti.

The poem ‘Maude Clare’ written by Christina Rossetti outlines the faults in the upper class Victorian society. It brings attention to society’s destruction of individuals and how class and status at this time were more important than the power of love and people’s emotions. The poem is about a woman called ‘Maude Clare’ who attends her past lover’s wedding in the hope of winning him back – although she knows that it is not a highly probable turn out. Therefore, when the character of Maude Clare arrives she blesses him, the marriage and formally hands him over to ‘Nell’ his new wife. Maude Clare loves Lord Thomas but knows that she cannot marry him; this is because she is of a lower status than him, whereas Nell is of the same status as him. It is tragic that both Maude Clare and Thomas have been ripped apart due to society’s standards.

Rossetti uses the character of Maude Clare to show female empowerment. Maude Clare may be from a non-aristocratic background but her words are powerful enough to be heard by Lord Thomas; they are even sharp enough to make him falter within his reply. However, no matter how powerful Maude Clare’s words are she will never be powerful in society. The only reason her words are so powerful to Lord Thomas is because he cares deeply about her and his love for her is enough to make him look past her status in society and respect her as a person. But does love really does conquer everything? It seems not. Lord Thomas obeys his mother and father by marrying ‘Nell’ instead of his one true love – Maude Clare. This is because in Victorian societal days rich people would only be allowed or approved to marry a fellow rich person. Anyone who was working class was looked down upon and thought to not be suitable for this role. The influence of society is enforced by Lord Thomas’ mother who basically tells him that he must stay with Nell and be loyal to her even though his heart is not fully in it. This implies that the majority of upper class weddings did not happen because of two people’s love for one other, but for improved money and status. However, although Maude Clare is powerless in society she is the body of female empowerment within the poem, this is because out of 12 Stanzas 5consist of Maude Clare speaking. She is not only a confident speaker but she also defends herself and mocks Lord Thomas. This suggests that Christina Rossetti supported women’s rights and believed that women should be empowered more.' 

Research On Christina Rossetti.

Christina (Georgina) Rossetti. 

(5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894)

Rossetti was an English poet who lived during the Victorian times. She was of Italian decent although she lived in London all of her life. She wrote a variety of romantic, devotional and children’s poems but she’s most commonly known for writing Goblin Market and Remember.

Early Life - Rossetti lived in London with her family- consisting of her mother, father, sister and two brothers.  She was educated at home by her mother and father where she was taught a wide range of texts: religious works, classics, fairytales and novels. Rossetti was very much a London child and also very lively. She enjoyed reading the work of Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis. She was heavily influenced Dante Alighieri and other Italian writers as her home was filled with their work. Sadly, her father lost his job as he got diagnosed with persistent bronchitis followed by becoming blind. After 11 years of these problems alongside depression he died. This left the family dependent on her mother and sister- who both went out and got jobs to keep the family out of poverty. When she was 14, Rossetti suffered from a nervous breakdown and left school. She then suffered from depression and related illnesses. During this period, Rossetti, her mother and sister became very interested in the Anglo- Catholic movement that developed in the Church of England, this lead Rossetti to enter a state known as ‘Religious Mania’. From then on religious devotion became a major part of Rossetti’s life.

Mid Life – In her late teens Rossetti became engaged to 1/3 suitors- James Collinson who was one of the founding members of the avant-garde artistic group and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (founded in 1848). The engagement was broken off in 1850 when he reverted to Catholicism. She then became involved with Charles Cayley, but declined to marry him because of religious reasons. The last man to propose to Rossetti was John Brett (a painter) who she also rejected. Rossetti sat for several of Dante Rossetti's most famous paintings. She was also model for the Virgin Mary in his first completed oil painting ‘The Girlhood of Mary Virgin’. Another interesting fact is that a line from her poem "Who shall deliver me?" inspired the famous painting by Fernand Khnopff called "I lock my door upon myself".  In 1849 she became seriously ill again, suffering from depression and sometime around 1857 had a major religious crisis.

Career - Rossetti began writing and dating her poems from 1842 onwards. From 1847 onwards she started trying verse forms such as sonnets, hymns and ballads. She wrote about narratives from the Bible, folk tales and the lives of saints. Her earliest pieces often featured themes of death and loss. Under the pen-name "Ellen Alleyne", she added to the magazine ‘The Germ’, published by the Pre-Raphaelites from January – April 1850 and edited by her brother William. This marked the beginning of her public writing career.