The Works of Christina Rossetti

The Renaissance, in Europe, lasted from 1300 until 1600. The word “Renaissance” means “Reawakening” or “rebirth” which is exactly what occurred in Europe throughout this time period. The historical figure Isabella d'Este contributed and embodied the spirit of the Renaissance through her work,life,and legacy. The Renaissance focused on the revival of learning and art. Throughout this enthusiastic time period in Europe several new styles of art and literature were distinguished among people. The Renaissance spirit can be described as enthusiastic and experimental especially through its amazing arts. The historical figure Isabella d’Este leadership and title being the “First Women Of The Renaissance” contributed to the Renaissance. She played a great role in the government which was thought to be surprising since men were thought to outpower women during this time. Although women and men's equality rights are still not fair, Isabella d’Este helped it excell to a greater level.

Rossetti depicts the life of a loveless old maid to illustrate the negative effects of a life in sole pursuit of love. Rossetti says, “And one was blue with famine after love, / Who like a harpstring snapped rang harsh and low / The burden of what those were

Here she expresses, as she often does in her latter poetry, how lonely life is, especially a life of poetry. Giovanni says that writing poetry "is a lonely profession" (Reid 47). In the last poem of this vast selection, "But Since You Finally Asked," Giovanni provides a closure, clearly addressing her audience when saying,

The notion of women being afraid of love is timeless. Even today, despite the radical increase of freedoms and rights women have in comparison with Victorian women, there is a sense that being in love will take something away from the self. In the movie Iron Jawed Angels, Alice Paul states that “When you are alone, you can make any choice you want, but when someone loves you, you lose that right.” I believe that Christina Rossetti held a deep, subconscious fear that she would lose herself, her religion and her right to make choices in her own life if she allowed herself to truly love and be loved in return. This fear is reflected in various characters throughout her works. More importantly, the lessons learned and ignored by her characters are important for the reader. We may think that perhaps Alice Paul was right; perhaps there are valid reasons for women to be hesitant to fully give themselves over to a power as strong as eros love; perhaps Rossetti’s choice to put religion and a relationship with God above all else was truly the wisest path to take. However, through reading these texts and recognizing what she herself may have known only on a subconscious level, we are able to learn from Rossetti’s choices and realize the need to overcome our natural tendencies to give in to similar fears in our own lives.

The Victorian period marked the first traces of progress in the feminist movement, and poet Christina Rossetti embraced the advancement as her own long-established principles slowly became publicly acceptable. Her poem "Goblin Market" comments on the institutions in Victorian society that she and her feminist contemporaries wished to see altered, creating modern female heroines to carry out its messages. The goblins serve as malicious male figures to tempt the innocent heroines, sisters Laura and Lizzie, to corruption.

while or was it all just a game to him? He used her and made her

The Victorian England witnessed many developments ranging from the social to the literary fields. Literature being the very reflection of society since ages continued in the nineteenth century England also as the vehicle of expression. While the scientific advancement was the trend, there were many writers who sought a subjective involvement with life owing to the growth of uncertainty and doubts and took refuge from the religious domains. Poets like Matthew Arnold saw religion as the perfect hope for sustenance and apart from him, there were many other writers who made their say whether in the form of poetry or prose and contributed to the world literary domain. An effective woman voice of the period was Christian Georgina Rossetti.

Nineteenth century poet, Christina Rossetti reflects this notion of female self-ownership in her poem, “Winter:My Secret.” She states, “I tell my secret? No indeed, not I/...Only, my secret's mine, and I won't tell” (1,5). Rossetti maintains the ambiguity of her secret throughout the poem, representing the mystery of the female self. Instead of allowing herself to be defined by and dependent on the male, and as Wollstonecraft states,“blindly [submitting] to authority,” (241) she is impenetrable and therefore, free from the male's grasp.

Both Edna St. Vincent Millay’s “Dirge Without Music” and Dylan Thomas’ “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night” are poems that discuss the emotional repercussions of death and dying. Grieving the loss of a loved one can be an extremely excruciating experience. At times one may feel suffocated by the sorrow and are desperate for a way to find relief from these intense emotions that are apparent in the grieving process. This is where works of literature can be therapeutic when dealing with difficult emotions. Poetry can be extremely helpful in this sense as one of its purposes is to emphasize certain feelings, ones that we feel but are not sure how to process. It can bring to life what we wish we could do or say, but are not able to. By cross-referencing

The effect of this is a sonnet that goes through stages of grief and mourning, and what that means in relation to love and human emotion. The speaker may not have his love anymore, which sends him in to a downcast state, but the intensity of her love through the power of memory is enough to bring him to terms of acceptance with his loss. Through the use of diction, tense, and tone the author proves that despite the fact that the speaker’s love is deceased, love in it’s many forms can build or

What is especially significant is Artemisia's portrayal of her chaperone as youthful, strong and fully engaged in the assisting Judith, in striking contrast to the chaperone who purposefully abandoned Artemisia in her hour of need. Meanwhile, Caravaggio’s instable life is portrayed through the painting as it reflects death which is something he had gone through tremendously as he lost many members of his family at a young

Rossetti’s poetry was largely influenced by his mid and late life struggles. On May 12, 1828, in London, England, Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti was born into a family of Italian immigrants. Rossetti switched the order of his names to Dante Gabriel Rossetti later in life in order to stress his relationship with the infamous Italian poet, Dante Alighieri. "His father, Gabriele Rossetti, was a Dante scholar, who had been exiled from Naples for writing poetry in support of the Neapolitan Constitution of 1819." The Rossetti’s had a large amount of achievements, with two of their kids being closely involved with the Catholic Church, and all four kids being famous writers. (“Dante”...The Poetry) Rossetti changed the order of his names later in life

Individuals in society are compelled and feel restricted to follow certain social rules, but for some, their emotions towards the restrictions are negative. Many find different ways to release their constrained emotions, such as art, writing, music and physical activity. In like manner, Christina Rossetti releases her feelings and opinions about restrictions and situations occurring around her, which is evident in her sonnet “A Triad.” Christina Rossetti’s Petrarchan sonnet, “A Triad,” was published in the 1800s; during this period, the image and presentation of women was strict and had to be upheld. In “A Triad,” Rossetti is expressing the lack of variety, labels and freedom of women through the three women illustrated in the poem. The three women are categorized under married and lack of love, ideal woman, and promiscuous. Rossetti’s expressions about the society’s restrictions on women are evident in her use of symbolism of colours and words that are chosen to rhyme.

As the poems continue, McAuley adopts a melancholy tone within his communication to the infant through second person, thus stressing the significant impact the child’s death has had on the audience. This is enforced through the alliteration of the words “once only” and repetition when he states, “I cannot tell, I cannot understand”, evoking sympathy. The emphasis that the mother of the child was only able to hold the child once before it passed away and the difficultly expressed by the father not understanding his child’s death demonstrates the suffering of not only the child, but the parents. Additionally, repetition is present as Rossetti’s poem continues, when she begins to constantly repeat “remember me”, commanding that when and if she dies, it is to be acknowledged and mourned. Although her commanding tone differs from McAuley’s melancholy tone, it still emphasises the significance of death.

For the majority of Christina Rossetti’s life, religion and poetry were of utmost importance, and in that order. She often wrote children’s stories and religious anecdotes, most of which were well received and given praise. In 1862, she published what, unbeknownst to her, would prove to be her legacy; Rossetti issued a 567-line masterpiece she called “Goblin Market,” a story of temptation, redemption, sisterhood, and unconditional love, a story she claimed was merely a children’s fairytale with no truly profound meaning. However, for over a century critics and readers alike have contemplated whether or not that claim was true, discovering dozens of possible messages Rossetti could have been trying to convey through her unforgettable poem. Despite their diversity, the strongest messages found in “Goblin Market” are that of religion and sensuality.