CRITICAL QUOTATIONS AND CONTEXT FOR ROSSETTI
rossetti’s own words
“unalterable distinction between men and women” opinions of feminism
“i did not mean anything profound by this fairy tale” about the goblin market
rossetti refused to give her support to the vote for women
rossetti is an anglican christian, more specifically a tractarian meaning that after
death you enter a ‘soul sleep’ (similar to limbo) where the soul stays until
judgement day. in song when i am dead “and dreaming through the twilight that
doth not rise nor set”
rossetti helped prostitutes at the mary magdalene house
rossetti and women
rossetti gives a vibrant voice to the female experience (mold)
rossetti has radically rewritten the fall of eve in terms of the abuse of women
which she sees around her (palazzo) about goblin market referencing her work
at the mary magdalene institution for ‘fallen’ women
twice
“ [love] simply cannot be more important than the narrator’s relationship to god”
(bocher)
no thank you, john
“by rejecting a potential suitor, the speaker asserts the right to say no” (avery)
poetry context
an angel in the house, coventry patmore’s 1862 poem stated women should be
submissive to her husband and selflessly devoted to him, this reflects the time
period where women were confined to the domestic sphere
rossetti was described as ‘pre raphaelite’ due to her poetry containing many
references to nature and melancholic in tone
death
“ [rossetti has a] melancholy desire for death” (bowra) can reference any of the
poems that deal with death (song, remember, from the antique, in the round
tower at jhansi etc)
rossetti has had grave’s disease and breast cancer, which may account for the
topics of her poems surrounding death or a melancholic view on the world
rossetti’s own words
“unalterable distinction between men and women” opinions of feminism
“i did not mean anything profound by this fairy tale” about the goblin market
rossetti refused to give her support to the vote for women
rossetti is an anglican christian, more specifically a tractarian meaning that after
death you enter a ‘soul sleep’ (similar to limbo) where the soul stays until
judgement day. in song when i am dead “and dreaming through the twilight that
doth not rise nor set”
rossetti helped prostitutes at the mary magdalene house
rossetti and women
rossetti gives a vibrant voice to the female experience (mold)
rossetti has radically rewritten the fall of eve in terms of the abuse of women
which she sees around her (palazzo) about goblin market referencing her work
at the mary magdalene institution for ‘fallen’ women
twice
“ [love] simply cannot be more important than the narrator’s relationship to god”
(bocher)
no thank you, john
“by rejecting a potential suitor, the speaker asserts the right to say no” (avery)
poetry context
an angel in the house, coventry patmore’s 1862 poem stated women should be
submissive to her husband and selflessly devoted to him, this reflects the time
period where women were confined to the domestic sphere
rossetti was described as ‘pre raphaelite’ due to her poetry containing many
references to nature and melancholic in tone
death
“ [rossetti has a] melancholy desire for death” (bowra) can reference any of the
poems that deal with death (song, remember, from the antique, in the round
tower at jhansi etc)
rossetti has had grave’s disease and breast cancer, which may account for the
topics of her poems surrounding death or a melancholic view on the world
