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.