The youngest of four children in a family of poets, artists, and philosophers, Christina Georgina Rossetti was born in 1830. Rossetti was a devout High Anglican, influenced by a religious movement known as Tractarianism. She spent most of her adulthood living in seclusion in London, where she cared for invalid relatives, did charity work, and pursued her writing. While she also wrote prose, she specialized in poetry, writing over 900 poems in English and 60 in Italian.
Like her brothers, Christina was also closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. She wrote occasional poems and essays for the Pre-Raphaelite journal, The Germ. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of painters, poets, and critics who wanted both visual art and poetry to return to the intense colors and vivid detail typical of artists in the early Italian Renaissance. Pre-Raphaelite painters and poets depicted even the most banal objects with great detail.
Christina Rossetti 's "Goblin Market," like most art by members of the Pre-Raphaelite group, contains a lot of symbolism. "Goblin Market" is about two sisters, one of whom gets sick after eating bad goblin fruit, and is healed because of her sister's courage. Laura and Lizzie hear the sounds of the goblin fruit market from their house. At first they try to ignore the calls of the goblin men, but eventually Laura decides to go out and see what's happening. Lizzie warns her not to go, but Laura is too curious. The goblin men offer her their fruit, and Laura thinks it looks tasty. She doesn't have any money, but the goblins offer to take a piece of her golden hair instead. So Laura gives up some of her hair, eats the fruit and heads home to her sister. But after eating all that goblin fruit, Laura starts to waste away. Lizzie gets worried and decides to go down to the market. The goblin men try to tempt her the way they tempted her sister, but Lizzie stands firm. The goblin men turn violent and try to stuff fruit in Lizzie's mouth, but she squeezes her mouth shut, so they just end up getting juice all over her. Lizzie runs back to their house all covered in goblin fruit juice. Laura kisses the juice off her sister's cheeks and is healed.
The main symbols found in this poem are fruits, flowers, the moon, money and the water. The poem is about eating fruit and then wanting more. In the beginning of the poem, the author lists 29 different kinds of fruit. Flowers in "Goblin Market" tend to be associated with delicate, fragile purity, as opposed to the luscious, decadent, and sensual goblin fruit. Flowers, though, can be "plucked," which often represented a loss of purity (line 151). The moon is often symbolically connected to women in poetry. But, it can also have to do with cycles and changes, since the moon changes shape throughout the month. The moon, in "Goblin Market", seems to be connected with addiction to the goblin fruit. Even though the market is central to the basic plot of the poem, money only changes hands twice. And the first time is not even real money. Laura makes her metaphor relating gold coins to golden hair literal when she actually snips off a "golden curl" to use as money (line 126). And finally, a lot of the action of "Goblin Market" takes place down by the stream where Laura and Lizzie gather water.
The poem is highly symbolic, and considered by many as an interpretation of the original sin story of Adam and Eve. Several archetypes are used by the author in her poem. The three main archetypes are the virgin or innocent represented by Laura, the hero - Lizzie. The third archetype is the one of devil or evildoers, represented here by the goblins.
I think Christina Rossetti wrote a very powerful poem and showed great detail in her words. She was a very religious person, and in this poem, she portrays Lizzie as a Christ figure, and Laura as Eve, whom it was thought to be the reason for sin in the world. The author's message is that females have strong appetites but must learn to not give into temptation.
The main symbols found in this poem are fruits, flowers, the moon, money and the water. The poem is about eating fruit and then wanting more. In the beginning of the poem, the author lists 29 different kinds of fruit. Flowers in "Goblin Market" tend to be associated with delicate, fragile purity, as opposed to the luscious, decadent, and sensual goblin fruit. Flowers, though, can be "plucked," which often represented a loss of purity (line 151). The moon is often symbolically connected to women in poetry. But, it can also have to do with cycles and changes, since the moon changes shape throughout the month. The moon, in "Goblin Market", seems to be connected with addiction to the goblin fruit. Even though the market is central to the basic plot of the poem, money only changes hands twice. And the first time is not even real money. Laura makes her metaphor relating gold coins to golden hair literal when she actually snips off a "golden curl" to use as money (line 126). And finally, a lot of the action of "Goblin Market" takes place down by the stream where Laura and Lizzie gather water.
The poem is highly symbolic, and considered by many as an interpretation of the original sin story of Adam and Eve. Several archetypes are used by the author in her poem. The three main archetypes are the virgin or innocent represented by Laura, the hero - Lizzie. The third archetype is the one of devil or evildoers, represented here by the goblins.
I think Christina Rossetti wrote a very powerful poem and showed great detail in her words. She was a very religious person, and in this poem, she portrays Lizzie as a Christ figure, and Laura as Eve, whom it was thought to be the reason for sin in the world. The author's message is that females have strong appetites but must learn to not give into temptation.
Works cited:
"Goblin Market." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 11 Oct. 2010. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goblin_Market)>.
Humphries, Simon. "The Uncertainty of Goblin Market." Victorian Poetry 45.4 (2007): 391-413. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 11 Oct. 2010.
I enjoyed your background entry on Christina Rossetti. The plot summary was concise and included all the relavent information that an outside reader would need in order to understand what is happening in the story. You posted according to the assignment for the most part and you posted on time. However, you are missing a key component of the assignment, namely, the archetypes. I think when you add them in, the blog will be even better. Also the interpretation should have been a little longer and included some of the symbols. Overall I found your blog to be very informative and to the point.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all professor like when everything goes by order the way he assigned and every part. So you started very good with poet information. But you didn’t give some information about “Goblin Market”, you should find some and add to your entry. Plot is good and simple, so if I would not read the poem, it will be easy for me to understand it from your entry.
ReplyDeleteYou found symbols, but I don’t think that you found all of them. What about girls??? Are they symbols? Or goblin men??? Try to find more symbols and add also your opinion about how the Christina Rosette wanted to show her idea with these symbols. Then you missed the biggest part – archetypes. So you should find then and add as well.
And I don’t see your opinion about the poem. What you think it is really about?
I hope my comments will help you to revise your entry. Good luck