cookie_511's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5. Even though I did give it a 3.5 rating I would say this book was fairly good. Would I recommend to anyone? No. But do I regret reading it? Also no. I felt that some of these poems were very strong and had some meanies, but I didn’t know how much religion I was getting my self into. I myself am definitely interested in other religions but in the way Christina Rossetti portrayed it I felt like it was getting slightly repetitive. Though I really loved the poems she wrote about the spring, her experiences with heartbreak, and the feeling of being forgotten. And for the actual goblin market poem (to no surprise) it was one of my favorites if not my favorite of the collection, but in the end my final decision for the rating of this book still stands at a 3.5/5.
ivyeori's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
ceallaighsbooks's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.0
“Morning and evening
Maids heard the goblins cry:
‘Come buy our orchard fruits,
Come buy, come buy…’”
— from “The Goblin Market”
TITLE—Goblin Market & other poems
AUTHOR—Christina Rossetti
PUBLISHED—1862
PUBLISHER—Macmillan
GENRE—Pre-Raphaelite English poetry
SETTING—England, 19th c.
MAIN THEMES/SUBJECTS—faeries, temptation & sex, siblinghood, Death, religious imagery & ideology, art & the artist, Keats, big lesbian energy, cottagegore vibes, dreams, nursery rhymes & lullabies, (there’s even a poem about roadkill lmao)
“Rest, rest, for evermore
Upon a mossy shore;
Rest, rest at the heart's core
Till time shall cease:
Sleep that no pain shall wake,
Night that no morn shall break
Till joy shall overtake
Her perfect peace.”
— from “Dream Land”
Summary:
“The pioneering nineteenth-century poet’s best-known and most darkly imaginative verses on love, death and loss.”
My thoughts:
I enjoyed this poetry a lot more than I thought I would. Definitely some excellent erotic, queer vibes and really nice sort of cottagegore, gothic imagery and themes. Also somehow I never realized that Rossetti wrote the poem that my favorite Christmas Carol is based on.
“Awake or sleeping (for I know not which)
I was or was not mazed within a wood
Where every mother-bird brought up her brood
Safe in some leafy niche
Of oak or ash, of cypress or of beech,
“Of silvery aspen trembling delicately,
Of plane or warmer-tinted sycomore,
Of elm that dies in secret from the core,
Of ivy weak and free,
Of pines, of all green lofty things that be.”
— from “An Old-World Thicket”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Season: late Spring / early Summer (except for the Christmas Carol poem which is obviously winter…)
CW // child death (Please feel free to DM me for more specifics!)
Further Reading—
- THE PRE-RAPHAELITE SISTERHOOD by Jan Marsh—TBR
- more about Christina Rossetti
- WB Yeats
- Mary Shelley
- Tennyson, Keats, Shakespeare
- CARMILLA by Sheridan Le Fanu
- NETTLE AND BONE by T Kingfisher
- “Fiddler, Fool Pair”, in FRUITING BODIES by Kathryn Harlan
nlusson's review against another edition
dark
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.5
rosekk's review against another edition
4.0
Many of the poems in the collection appealed to me, which is pretty rare. I am a very picky poem-reader. The Goblin Market itself as especially good. A tale about a girl helping her sister seems pretty unusual subject matter for an 1800s poet, so it got points for being unique. It was also pretty to read, thereby accruing additional points in my book.
natashabatasha's review against another edition
4.0
diktböcker är för mig, d bara att dom jag läste innan den här var bajs. jag gillade teman samt genren av boken och hur dikterna var skriva. dock (eftersom jag inte personligen har ngt religiöst intresse) så tyckte jag att dikterna som tillhörde ”devotional pieces” inte var lika intressanta
elderlingfool's review against another edition
3.5
It is always hard to rate a collection because the works seldom have equal quality. I found most of the poems in this book either okay or simply didn't like them. I usually love works filled with emotion, but this was too sentimental even for me. Too dramatic for the most part. However, the longest and most well known poem "Goblin Market" is one of my all time favourites and no doubt the best one here. I also really liked "Cousin Kate" and "No, Thank You, John". In a way, all of the poems are about endings (death, a lost love, etc).
My edition only has 68 pages and the poems are really short. That means this was a really quick read so that is a point in it's favour. I really like the writing style except when it goes too overboard with the sentimentality. It doesn't look sincere and ends up looking like the author was trying too hard to make the reader feel something instead.
"Goblin Market" is a fairy tale written in verse and it's both dark and beautiful. There are some different interpretations of it and they are all quite interesting. I do believe this poem has an eroticism about it, but the story is still good even if taken at face value.
"Cousin Kate" has the typical plot of a woman that was used by the king and sent away in shame while he married another and it even has the typical ending about the heir. Even though it's not original, I still really enjoyed it.
"If he had fooled not me but you,
If you stood where I stand,
He'd not have won me with his love
Nor bought me with his land;
I would have spit into his face
And not have taken his hand."
"No, Thank You, John" is a good poem for guys that don't take no for an answer. It starts with "I never said I loved you, John" and goes on telling this John to go do something else with his life instead of insisting on a romantic relationship.
"Let us strike hands as hearty friends;
No more, no less; and friendship's good:
Only don't keep in view ulterior ends"
My favourite poems tend to be the ones that have some kind of story instead of just an expression of feelings. There were very few of those in here, but I enjoyed them the most.
My edition only has 68 pages and the poems are really short. That means this was a really quick read so that is a point in it's favour. I really like the writing style except when it goes too overboard with the sentimentality. It doesn't look sincere and ends up looking like the author was trying too hard to make the reader feel something instead.
"Goblin Market" is a fairy tale written in verse and it's both dark and beautiful. There are some different interpretations of it and they are all quite interesting. I do believe this poem has an eroticism about it, but the story is still good even if taken at face value.
"Cousin Kate" has the typical plot of a woman that was used by the king and sent away in shame while he married another and it even has the typical ending about the heir. Even though it's not original, I still really enjoyed it.
"If he had fooled not me but you,
If you stood where I stand,
He'd not have won me with his love
Nor bought me with his land;
I would have spit into his face
And not have taken his hand."
"No, Thank You, John" is a good poem for guys that don't take no for an answer. It starts with "I never said I loved you, John" and goes on telling this John to go do something else with his life instead of insisting on a romantic relationship.
"Let us strike hands as hearty friends;
No more, no less; and friendship's good:
Only don't keep in view ulterior ends"
My favourite poems tend to be the ones that have some kind of story instead of just an expression of feelings. There were very few of those in here, but I enjoyed them the most.