Religion In Christina Rossetti's Poetry

Throughout Christina Rossetti’s life she experienced numerous periods in which she questioned her religion. Due to this, her poetry highlights the varying levels of devotion as well as the doubts she had. She wrote Good Friday at the age of 32 during a period of skepticism whereas Shut Out and Uphill were both written when she was 26 (1856) and 28 (1858) respectively. Throughout her life she maintained a strong connection to the High-Anglican Church even through her anxious periods of apprehension of her own devotion . The appellation of Good Friday provokes immediate connotations to Christianity and the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Rossetti uses fundamental understanding of the Bible to connect to her own religious beliefs, especially concerning her Evangelical approach of Christianity. However, the poem does not promote a positive portrayal of religion as it presents her doubts and confusion. Her use of questions such as ‘am I a stone and not a sheep’ …show more content…
Once again she uses questions within the poem to reveal her concerns, although in Uphill these questions are subsequently answered by an additional narrator. Emphasis is placed upon the different speakers through the use of rhyming couplets to separate them which aids the reader to see the significance of the answers as there is suggestion of this being a Holy Spirit such as Jesus or even God. Shut Out has similar connotations towards the characters as the narrator has been locked out of her Garden by ‘a shadowless spirit’. However, within all three of these poems there is a suggestion of Rossetti within each narrator although is not explicitly herself within the work. She illustrates her own beliefs onto the characters . In some respects this makes her an intrusive narrator although she does not explicitly present herself, resulting in the readers being able to communicate their own thoughts into the poetry