Christina Rossetti

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Christina Rossetti

Christina Georgina Rossetti was born in London on December 5, 1830. She was one of four children. She had two brothers, William and Dante, and one sister, Maria. All four children became writers, and her brother Dante was also a famous painter. Christina was the youngest of the four children. Her father, Gabriele Rossetti was a poet, and her mother, Frances Polidori Rossetti was deeply religious. It has been said that Christina, “Inherited many of her artistic tendencies from her father,” (Glenn Everett. “The Life of Christina Rossetti”. The Victorian Web. 1988. 25 Feb. 2012. ) and that her, “Religious temperament was closer to her mother’s.” (Everett, “The Life of Christina Rossetti)

Christina Rossetti, her mother, and her sister were all pious members of the Church of England. In her later years, Maria became an Anglican nun. Christina’s religious convictions are apparent in some of her more religious poetic writings such as “Paradise” and “Trust Me”. In her lifetime, she also worked for the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. It has been said that she covered the secular parts of Swinburne’s Atalanta in Calydon in order to enjoy it more. (Everett, “The Life of Christina Rossetti”)

Christina never married, despite the fact that she was engaged to James Collinson and courted by Charles Cayley. She broke off the engagement with Collinson because he reverted to Roman Catholicism. She also ended her courtship with Cayley because she discovered that he was not a Christian. Her failed attempts at love would later prove to be a prominent theme in her works.

The latter years of Christina Rossetti’s life were characterized by “slackening lyrical power” in her wor...

... middle of paper ...

...ian Poetry. West Virginia University Press. 1997. Vol. 35, No. 1. Christian Allegory and Subversive poetics: Christina Rossetti’s “Prince’s Progress” Re-examined. 83-94.

Jan Marsh. “Christina Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood”. Penguin Classics. 2011. 27 Feb 2012. .

Julia Touché. “Christina Rossetti’s Biographical Situation in 1872”. The Victorian Web. 15 Mar 2007. 2 Mar 2012. .

Julia Touché. “Contemporary Problems in Christina Rossetti’s Sing-Song”. The Victorian Web. 15 Mar 2007. 2 Mar 2012. .

“Literature: Theme”. Annenberg Learner. 2012. 2 Mar 2012. .

“A Materialistic Aesthetic and a Materialist Hermeneutics”. Ohio University Press and Swallow Press. 2012. 2 Mar 2012. .

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