A review by ellareads4
The Poetry of Christina Rossetti by Christina Rossetti

5.0

21st-century readers judge Christina Rossetti harshly for her religious fanaticism, melancholy, and "trite" verse. I think modern readers and scholars do not give her nearly enough credit. While I can't deny her (occasionally tedious) fanaticism and melancholy, she is a wonderful poet. Her deceptively simple poetry reveals universal truths about life, love, and, in particular, grief. Rossetti's precise language predates the sparse style considered cutting-edge in the 20th century. Rossetti's brother was a Pre-Raphaelite painter. She "paints" with her verse through her lush description of flowers, animals, and colors, so I consider Christina, not just Gabriel, foundational in the Pre-Raphaelite school.

A poem like "Remember" is a perfect poem. "In an Artist's Studio" and "No, Thank You, John" are fantastic, arch, and surprisingly fiery poems.