The Difference Between Rossetti?s Life and Her Poetry The Victorian Age was a time of growth in London. The city was growing rapidly and there was an uproar of technological advances and industrialization. During this era many of the greatest British poets were thriving, Christina Rossetti being one. As a woman from such a socially booming era like this one, she did not actively get involved. Rossetti was a quiet and reserved woman, but her poetry is quite the opposite; it is complex, outspoken, and overflowing with religious allegories. Christina Georgina Rossetti was born on December 5, 1830 in London, England, into an exceptionally talented family. Her father, Gabriele, was a poet, painter, and had . . . ?established a career …show more content…
Contrary to her quiet, depressing, and virtually uneventful life, Rossetti?s works are . . . ?vivid, musical, and imaginative. . . . Very often the poems have double, deeper meanings, or hint at a mysterious, unrevealed subject that seems to lie just beneath as well as on the polished surface.?27 Unlike Christina, who masked her passionate personality, her poems are very outspoken and a reader can see how she cleverly poured out her bottled up emotions into poetry. Using imagery as a way to underhandedly get a message across is just one of the many ways her broad command of poetic language is so different than her quiet life. An example of this is ?Goblin …show more content…
Contrary to her quiet life, Rossetti expresses the fear of temptation and uses imagery to express it. Other religious allegories include the fruit. Many critics believe that the fruit is used to symbolize the forbidden fruit like in the Garden of Eden story.35 When Laura ends up tasting the fruit that the goblins so earnestly push her to buy it leads to an almost near death experience.36 However, she is saved by her sister Lizzie, who critics think resembles a Christ-like figure.37 Lizzie is a major focus for religious symbolism because of the way she warns Laura not to eat the fruit and how she takes the abuse of the goblin men when she tries to save her sister. It resembles a lot of the Christ qualities that critics have discussed. These lines express how Lizzie embodies Christ:
Lashing their tails
They trod and hustled her,
Elbowed and jostled her,
Clawed with their nails,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .