Christina Rossetti Research Paper

DeJour Jackson

Mr. Felt

November 9, 2014

Arthur Symons once wrote, "Possessed, in union with a profoundly emotional nature, a power of artistic self-restraints which no other woman who has written in verse, except the supremesapprio, has ever shown" (Harris). Christina Rossetti emerged as one of the most influential poets of her time. During a stage in history when genders had an evident gap in equality, Rossetti did not let it discourage her from continuing on writing her literary pieces of work. As she was excluded from The Brotherhood's magazine, The Form's, meetings, she didn't stop on her journey on finding her self and the meaning of her poetry. She faced the same struggles as all women faced writing in the Victorian age. Standing out

Christina Rossetti’s rich childhood, familial and personal strives, and the Pre-Raphaelite movement encouraged her to use her poems as a tool of expression of the inner conflicts of religious and family issues and also a longing in her soul. The surrounding principles of Christina Rossetti's childhood in literature and the impact of religion at a young stage contributed to the development of her love for poetry and being known as one of the most important women poets, writing in nineteenth-century England, for her voice on controversial matters during her time period. Born December 5, 1830, to Gabriel Rossetti and Frances Polidori, Christina Rossetti grew up on 38 Charlotte street in London. Brothers William Michael and Dante Gabriel were active in literary circles and her sister Mary was a published author. Rossetti was often compared to her brother Dante. He encouraged her to further her writing and her poems were published, with his help, in the literary journal, The Athenaeum. Judging from somewhat

Rossetti's father, Gabriele Rossetti, was a political poet exile from Vasto, Abruzzo, and her mother, Frances Polidori, was a teacher and also the sister of Lord Byron's physician. Rossetti's parents chose the religion of their children. Rossetti's brother, Dante and William, were raised as Catholic, while Rossetti and her sister Maria took the weight of the Anglican Church on (Kunitz). Rossetti was attracted to religion because she was young, passionate, and had an over enthusiastic piety for self-harm (Addington). Rossetti remained a devout Anglican member her whole life and never married because of the religion her suitors were associated with. The women in Rossetti's family saw religion as very important. Rossetti's thoughts and struggles with her religion is very imminent in her poetry. Her poem ,When I am dead my dearest, was written in the Advent season of December 1848. During that time rossetti had accepted that after death the soul did not enter into its "full heavenly reward", it had to wait until the 2nd coming of Christ. The Anglican Church debated over the nature of the waiting time after death and it weighed heavily on Rossetti's mind (D'Amico