Christina Rossetti Critiques

 

In Kathryn Dorothy Marocchino’s evaluation of Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market she describes the poem as displaying many of Rossetti’s religious views such as resisting temptation before marriage.

Marocchino believes that the poem which shows a strong and intimate relationship between sisters is somewhat representative of Rossetti’s own sister Maria who became an Anglican nun. Neither the sisters married “bears a resemblance to the close relationship between Christina (who never married) and Maria (who became an Anglican nun).”

Marocchino also believes that Laura who gives into temptation and eats the fruit will turn into a goblin, this implies that Marocchino believes that the goblins are the prostitutes she backs this up by saying when Laura ate the fruit as she began to turn goblin like. “Begins gnashing her teeth and weeping uncontrollably, revealing her own potential to become one of the goblins herself”

 

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   Explore The Way Rossetti Presents Nature In Her Poems.

      
              Rossetti uses nature as a metaphor for God and her religious beliefs. Rossetti was an Anglican and and viewed God in a positive way, especially in the poem 'A Birthday.'In the poem 'A Birthday' Rossetti uses the simile 'my heart was like a singing bird,' which illustrates the freedom of her religion, the speaker is not consumed by religion she is still free to love. Religion does not hold Rossetti back. 'Singing,' connotes to the reader an image of happiness and joy she feels from this freedom, this signifies the voices of joy with God and love. Rossetti continues to praise God. She describes Gods omniscience through symbolic 'peacocks with a hundred eyes,' peacocks illustrate beauty which indicates how Rossetti sees God as beautiful and all seeing she is continually praising Gods beauty and Knowledge.
           Rossetti continues to use nature to portray other themes throughout her poems. One poem that shows relationships through nature is 'song.' Rossetti herself was never married , however she had many suitors. 'song' reflects Rossetti's non-traditional perception of life. Rossetti was not a cliche; the poem 'song' indicates this clearly. Rossetti's use of Iambic trimeter, 'plant thou no roses at my head,' illustrates how the speaker does not want 'roses' connoting to love. She does not want her partners love after shes dead. This does not fit with the Victorian ideas of death and mourning as they had big ceremonies and would mourn years after their death. Rossetti goes on to use nature to describe what the voice wants her partner to be 'Be the green grass above me,' this foregrounds how Rossetti is using alliteration 'green grass' to connote to life. This highlights how the voice wants her partner to carry on living even though shes dead.
In the second stanza Rossetti uses 'twiligh' to show how the voice, by dying, has broken free from the relationship 'And dreaming through the twilight that doth not rise nor set,' Rossetti uses 'dreaming' to draw attention to the end of the relationship due to her death. The voice is now just 'dreaming.' The relationship has gone.
           The roles of women played a big part in Rossetti's life. During the Victorian era women were known as the angel of the domestic sphere. In the poem 'Goblin Market,' Christina Rossetti showed Lizzie as a women stereotype and Laura as the transgressed sister. Rossetti used nature and 'fruits' to signify sensual temptation the women morally had to resist. Rossetti describes the Goblin Men like animals. 'One had a cats face, One whisked a tail' this foregrounds how the Goblin Men are animalistic and listen to there primative brain to give into sensual temptations. Rossetti implies that both girls at first are innocent. 'Laura stretched her gleeming neck Like a rush-imbedded swan,' this illustrates Lauras curiousity and transgressive nature; futhermore Rossetti describes Laura as a 'swan' which connotes to elegance, which is futher on ruined when she gives in to the temptations of the fruits. Rossetti describes the fruit as 'sweeter than honey,' this draws attention to how the 'fruits' may seem 'sweet' and perfect. 'Sweet' connotes to innocence which implies that Laura may feel she is doing nothing wrong by eating the fruit; giving into temptation. The 'fruit' is deceptive. Later on in the poem when Laura gives into the temptations of the fruit. Rossetti uses nature to show the loss of Lauras innocence. 'To swift decay and burn her fire away.' This exemplifies Lauras loss of innocence 'her fire' representing her innocence, has been lost.

How Does The Speaker In 'I Come From' Create A Sense Of Identity?

       How Does The Speaker In I Come From Create A Sense Of Identity?


In the poem 'I come from' the speaker has no fixed identity. This is first shown by the form of the poem. The poem is free verse, this indicates the fluidity of the speaker. The form also shows a clear stream of consciousness, because of this we cannot be sure of the identity of the speaker. The stream of consciousness is highlighted by the clear link of 'trains at the start of the poem and the end, they're 'waiting forever for the train to London.' This links to the end of the poem 'trains, trains, trains' This shows the stream of consciousness; it shows that he almost daydreams and his thoughts are all interconnected. The link back to 'trains' indicates the end of the day dream, therefore the end of the poem.
      The speaker uses stereotypical language to describe them, such as 'clean handkerchiefs' this is very stereotypical and gives the reader a sense that the speaker is from a very stereotypical posh family. This juxtaposes 'skinheads' which leads us to think of a scary unsafe environment, different to the atmosphere created by 'clean handkerchiefs' which creates the image of conventional living. There is also enjambment throughout the poem. This is show by 'if you look the wrong way' this creates a vision of a scary situation which the speaker is finding themselves in; as well as letting the reader think about the meaning of what the speaker has said. The poet also uses the anaphora 'i come from' to emphasize different aspects of the speakers life which contribute to there identity. However the speaker never says who they are, the poet allows the reader to use there imagination to invent the speaker. The poem is very ambiguous about who the speaker is.
    Throughout the poem there is a lot  of contrasting imagery such as 'i come from a garden' and 'i come from silence.' 'Garden' which symbolizes peace and serenity and gives off a calm image of a garden. This  contrasts to 'silence' which gives the reader a  sinister image of his life. The juxtaposition the writer uses leads to a more obscure view of the speaker. The contrast gives the speaker no real identity.
      Throughout the poem the tone of the poem changes drastically from sinister, to conventional and calm. The speaker says 'fog on the platform' this gives a sinister tone to the start of the poem. This may reflect the speakers identity. Are they from a sinister background? However he speaker then goes on to say 'i come from a garden' this gives an entirely different tone to the poem; 'garden' represents calm and serenity and is not sinister at all.

Overall the poet just hints at the identity of the speaker and is not clear about who they are.