Christina Rossetti Poet and Woman
Christina Rossetti Poet and Woman
Christina Rossetti Poet and Woman
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI
Conclusion 1 58
Bibliography 1 59
PREFACE.
INTRODUCTION.
!
Christina Rossetti was born on December 1 830 ).
x
) The Family Letters of Christina Georgina Rossetti, edited by W. M.
Rossetti, XI.
6
wish that were the only bar, but you see from my point
of view it is not. Now I am at least unselfish enough
altogether to deprecate seeing C. B. C. continually
(with nothing but mere feeling to offer) to his hamper
and discomfort ; but, if he likes to see me, God knows
I like to see him, and any kindness you will show him
will only be additional kindness loaded on me."
She continued to see Mr. Cayley and they always
remained faithful friends. There are frequent references
to him in her letters which prove her unaltered feelings
2
towards him ). When he died in 1 883 his sister wrote
to Christina: "He has left you all his own works that
these tours she visited Italy, she felt such a strong love
for this country that it seemed to her like her mother
country. She expressed these feelings in a poem bearing
the title En Route and also in a letter to her friend
follows
"I need not exert myself to tell you what Lucerne
was like, or what the lovely majesty of Mount St.
HOME INFLUENCES.
apparent.
For a while the children were taught German by
13
Her deep love for her father was not affected by his
members of the Rossetti family one certainly does not get an impression
of undemonstrativeness. The opposite is true.
21
her state for our own sakes, not for her**. And later,
Fiametta picture."
Gabriel used to send the manuscript of any poem he
had written first to his mother, to hear her opinion, before
25
she says, "y° u could have heard the tender and grateful
warmth with which he mentioned your kindness in ill-
27
28
"We left Mr. Watts with him and dinner on the table."
She felt that Gabriel was safe in the charge of this friend
30
1
) Mackenzie Bell's Biography p. 98.
2
) Family let ers p. 165.
33
3
34
on herself:
36
telling her that the Ballad of Boding was too much like
mother and sister were with him and nursed him till
41
y
) See p. 32.
42
gion forbade her to put an end to her life. Her less well-
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45
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girl-friend.
48
Soon over."
51
also: "Soon must end the night and soon will dawn
the day."
(The End of Time).
53
quite original. With great skill the poet here suits the
words and the measure to the meaning ; short lines
interchange with longer lines according as the move-
ments of the goblins or the experiences and feelings of
heaven*, 'languisheth-death*.
As has been mentioned Christina does not practise
word-formation so much as her brother to whose
wing-winnowed, fire-fledged, wing-shoul-
dered, vain-longing, hoarse-tongued, angel-
greeted etc., which we find in his House of Life, there
are no parallels in Christina's work. Nor does she use
so many words of Latin origin, such as we find in the
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57
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each stanza and the last word of the last line forms
the echo
59
Poor is pleasure
By weight and measure.
A Death-Parting :
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in her Listening:
61
"A — a snow-lily
white flake here and there
Of last night's frost — our naked flower-beds hold
And on the darkling mould
for a rose-flower
The hungry red-breast gleams. No bloom, no bee."
: ;
62
"Winter is cold-hearted,
Spring is yea and nay,
Autumn is a weathercock
Blown every way.
Summer days for me
When every leaf is on its tree
63
usual among artists. Brown had struck out his own way
and had freed himself from convention. Rossetti, and
with him several other young artists, were dissatisfied
with the methods of painting prevalent at the time ; the
work produced .by their contemporaries seemed mean-
ingless and lifeless to them. They felt the want of ideas
before Raphael.
It is characteristic of the Pre-Raphaelite painters that
) : 1 . To have genuine
ideas to express, 2. to study Nature attentively so as to
know how to express them, 3. to sympathise with what
is direct and serious and heartfelt in previous art, to the
71
1.
73
2.
74
Home :
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We also have a feeling that the story is not told for its
77
) we find an entry
on 7th August 1 855 in which he expresses his thoughts
this that a people toils and wears out its myriad lives ?
81
other people did not feel this keen enjoyment, nay that
to them existence frequently became a burden. This
suffering seemed to a great extent needless to him, as
he knew that much of it had its origin in the social
conditions made by man and which man, consequently,
ought to be able to change. He also thought that the
absence of joy in life was due to a want of beauty in
people's daily surroundings. He felt that, as an artist, it
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loss of it.
revival.
:
VI.
POETRY.
ts^i^^ ^^^^^^^ *
she held.
Christina Rossetti belonged to the church of England
and had the ideas of the orthodox members of that
88
89
90
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93
The tragedy of her spiritual life was that she did not
this future life the souls would meet and recognise each
other, either immediately after death or later, after the
she shut her mind to almost all things save the Bible
denial was her joy and she took herself severely to task
for any real or imagined backsliding.
Her heaven lay beyond the grave ; not in this life
part, she could not be called pantheistic, for she did not
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99
and the means to enter the great happiness that she felt
after life, finds its cause in her fear that she might not
prove worthy to inherit this great bliss; her humility
and doubt of herself made her afraid to count on having
a share in the great happiness promised hereafter.
Christina Rossetti began to write poetry in 1842.
Her grandfather Polidori published her first juvenile ef-
fusions; later they were illustrated in water colours by
Christina herself. In a preface, A few Words to the Readers,
Mr. Polidori says
"As her maternal grandfather I may be excused for
100
death and nature are the chief, while here and there,
at rare intervals, her fun finds expression.
In these juvenilia the religious faith of the girl poet
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102
or repent?*
103
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like the bous rimes that she was fond of trying her
hand at.
107
singing make the place less desolate ; they are very tame
for they steal the black-berries from the poet's hand
some have 'bodies like a flame' while some are 'pure
and colourless as dew'. The birds have never seen
a human being before; they have lived in happy
solitude
109
the poet that many of the silent guests look at her out
Ill
113
114
115
116
"Whilst I weep
Angels sing around thy singing soul.'*
Sleeping at last.**
117
Life is a weariness
From first to last.**
things.
119
120
is described.
The mysteriousness of human life also finds ex-
The wood that had grown gloomy and dark, now not
only regains its beauty, but is more lovely because the
way of duty.
staff and starts off to seek his bride, who is waiting for
him patiently amidst her women.
"By her head lilies and rosebuds grow
The lilies droop, will the rosebuds blow?
The silver slim lilies hang the head low.
124
the poem, beginning: "Too late for love, too late for
125
not the slip made by the lady is reproved, but her lack of
courage to acknowledge her error before the world and to
love her child as the deserted mother does in Cousin Kate.
Many more songs of unhappy love might be quoted,
such as: Two Parted, Light Love and Mirage.
Not all the love-songs are sad. We find the lighter,
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130
131
A Dirge run
132
and in Summer:
"Winter is cold-hearted,
Spring is yea and nay,
Autumn is a weather-cock
Blown every way.'*
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134
136
137
run
138
towards love.
139
Italia io ti Saluto.
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VII.
148
the verses."
On 28 July she writes : "Mr. Swinburne has acknow-
ledged with consummate graciousness Called to be Saints
follows
"But neither Herbert nor Crashaw could have bettered
such a divinely beautiful triplet as this
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Elegy, beginning:
151
On 115—116
p. p. of Mr. Mackenzie Bell's biogra-
154
156
of delights.**
157
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Cambridge History of English Literature Vol. XIII.
Chambers's Encyclopaedia.
Encyclopaedia Brittanica.
Dictionary of National Biography.
Saintsbury, G. — Nineteenth Century Literature, 1 90 1
„ Verses, 1893.
New Poems, 1 896.
„ Family Letters of Chr. G. Rossetti, 1 899.
.
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