cayleigh's review against another edition
I was pleasantly surprised by this and think that Rossetti is a highly underrated poet. Her work had so much range and I personally loved the style of her longer poems.
threeundertwopnw's review against another edition
inspiring
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
cookie_511's review
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
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
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