Christina Rossetti was a prolific English poet that lived from 1830 to 1894. What can Christians learn from her literary legacy and devotion to Christ?
What Do We Know about Christina Rossetti’s Family?
Rossetti was the third of four children between her father, Gabriel Rossetti, and her mother, Frances Polidori. Her father was a political exile from Italy and Dante scholar at Kings College in London. London proved an important location in Rossetti’s life—she spent some of her life in Somerset but returned to the city in 1854.
Unlike some artists, Rossetti was born into a family that encouraged her to cultivate her craft as a poet. From a young age, Christina’s Mother gave her a classical education which helped her grow intellectually, emotionally, physically, and spiritually within a Christian worldview.
Her brother Dante Gabrielle Rossetti was part of the Pre-Raphaelites, an eighteenth-century painters’ movement. Other members included painter Arthur Hughes, who illustrated the works of Scottish writer George MacDonald and illustrated Rossetti’s book Sing-Song: a Nursery Rhyme Book.
Rossetti was a voracious reader and saw writing poetry as a sacramental experience where one glorifies Christ in a creative act of surrender. This creative act affirms that evil and death do not have final victory and that Christ, the source of all goodness, beauty, and truth, triumphs over Satan and the powers of darkness.
Rossetti understood this truth and spent her life not as a nominal Anglican but an Anglo-Catholic Christian living out Jesus of Nazareth’s teachings. When Rossetti lived in Victorian England, it was common for people to be christened within the Church of England as an Anglican simply as a cultural expression that meant nothing more than a nominal association with the faith. Rossettit’s yearning for knowledge and truth led her to reject a lukewarm version of Christianity. She saw her choice as either devoting her life to culture or Christ. She chose the latter, believing that to experience abundant life truly was to know the person of Christ.
Rossetti was influenced by many books and writers—notably the Bible, the works of St. Augustine, The Tales of the Arabian Nights compiled by Antoine Galland, Thomas Keightley’s Fairy Mythology, and John Bunyan’s The Pilgrims Progress. Rossetti’s wide expanse of reading and artistic education given to her by her family helped her become one of the greatest Victorian poets.
Important Books by Christina Rossetti
Goblin Market and Other Poems was published in 1862.
The Prince’s Progress and Other Poems was published in 1866.
Commonplace and Other Short Stories was published in 1870.
Sing-Song: a Nursery Rhyme Book was published in 1872.
A Pageant and Other Poems was published in 1881.
Time Flies: A Reading Diary was published in 1885.
Verses was published in 1893.
Following her death in 1894, New Poems was published by her brother Gabriel Rossetti in 1896.
What Was Christina Rossetti Known For?
Rossetti is most well-known for her brilliant and moving poetry. Her faith inspired her verse, which dealt with topics like doubt and faith, nature, love, and mythology. Rossetti’s first verses were published in a volume printed by her grandfather Gaetano Polidori in 1847. Gaetano observed the promising future Rossetti could have as a poet, and his influence gave her an encouraging start.
Under the pseudonym of Ellen Alleyne Rossetti, seven poems were published in 1850 in the Pre-Raphaelite journal The Germ. These experiences of having work published at such a young age gave Rossetti the confidence and encouragement to pursue her vocation as a poet.
Rossetti was greatly admired by contemporary poets such as Alfred Lord Tennyson and influenced by the Oxford Movement in the 1840s. This movement, led by theologians and poets such as John Henry Newman, John Keeble, and E.B. Pusey, was a revival of Catholic teachings within the Church of England. Anglo-Catholic teachings emphasized the importance of sacraments, icons, vestments, and prayers to the saints while rejecting the Pope’s authority as the Vicar of Christ on earth and the Roman Catholic Church’s claims to infallibility. This religious movement influenced Rossetti’s poetry and her movement away from Evangelicalism to Anglo-Catholicism.
Rossetti’s commitment to Anglo-Catholicism influenced her life in many ways, including her ultimate choice not to marry. She broke two engagements—to artist James Collinson in 1850 and to Charles Bagot Cayley in 1864—because of Protestant and Catholic theological conflicts.
How did Christina Rossetti’s Faith Inform Her Work?
Although Rossetti was brought up within The Church of England as an Anglican, she saw Christianity as something that wasn’t simply cultural but that her faith in Christ encompassed her life. Her inquisitive mind, love for art, and dedication to poetry allowed her to remain dedicated to her craft while honoring God with the gift He had given her. Rossetti believed that it would have been an absolute waste if she accepted the cultural norm at the time of proper women not pursuing a career as a poet.
In 1845 Rossetti’s health began to decline. Some scholars have speculated Rossetti’s illness may have been a heart issue or that it may have been a form of manic depression. Whatever the illness, Rossetti was longsuffering in her health struggles and still believed in a good and loving God despite her afflictions. This steadfastness in her faith is captured well in her poetry, which has brought consolation and joy to readers all around the world.
Classic Christina Rossetti Poems
One of the most well-known poems by Christiana Rossetti is “In The Bleak Midwinter.” The poem was published in 1872 in Scribner’s Monthly. It was originally titled “A Christmas Carol” and captures the bleakness and harshness of the world and how, through the humility of Christ’s Incarnation, humanity has hope—the hope of Christmas.
The poem was later published as a hymn in the 1906 English Hymnal and has brought hope and joy to Christians worldwide. It has appeared in several movies over the years. Most recently, it was used during the ending scene of C.S. Lewis: The Most Reluctant Convert during a Eucharist service at Holy Trinity Church in Headington, attended by Lewis and his brother Warnie.
“Goblin Market” is perhaps Rossetti’s most well-known poem. The poem is inspired by the biblical account of the fall of humankind in Genesis 3 and European folklore. In the narrative poem, two sisters named Laura and Lizzie are tempted to eat fruit by goblins selling them in the local market. Of the sisters, it is Laura who yields to the temptation. Lizzie rescues her sister from the goblins, and the poem has a happy ending, with them both being wives and mothers. Even though there is a sin of gluttony committed through temptation, the Christ-like archetype Lizzie saves her sister, reflecting the reality of Christ’s unmerited grace.
A lesser-known work of Rossetti’s is the aforementioned Sing-Song. It is a collection of nursery rhymes published in 1872 with beautiful illustrations by Hughes. The book explores the beauty of nature, class disparagement that was common in Victorian England, the bond between a mother and a child, and doing good for others.
Rossetti was delighted by the illustrations done by Hughes and collaborated with him on another book, Speaking Likenesses, published in 1874.
Great Books about Christina Rossetti
Christina Rossetti: A Writer’s Life by Jane Marsh.
Learning Not To Be First: The Life of Christina Rossetti by Kathleen Jones
Christina Rossetti: A Biography by Frances Thomas.
Christina Rossetti: Poetry In Art by Susan Owens.
Christina Rossetti: A Biographical and Critical Study by August Welby Northmore Pugin.
Christina Rossetti: Poetry, Anthology, and Faith by Emma Mason.
Christina Rossetti: Her Life and Religion by Margaret Saltwell.
Christina Rossetti’s Feminist Theology by L. Palazzo.
Rossettis: Dante Gabriel and Christina Rossetti by Elisabeth Luther Cary.
Christina Rossetti and Illustration: A Publishing History by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra.
To read more about notable Christian poets, read:
7 Christian Women Poets You Need to Know About
What Should Christians Know about T.S. Eliot?
Forgotten Christian Fantasy Author and Poet Robert Siegel
What Led Dante Alighieri to Write the Divine Comedy?
What Can Christians Learn From John Donne?
What Do We Know about C.S. Lewis’ Wife Joy Davidman?
Photo Credit: Public domain image/Flickr
Justin Wiggins is an author who works and lives in the primitive, majestic, beautiful mountains of North Carolina. He graduated with his Bachelor's in English Literature, with a focus on C.S. Lewis studies, from Montreat College in May 2018. His first book was Surprised by Agape, published by Grant Hudson of Clarendon House Publications. His second book, Surprised By Myth, was co-written with Grant Hudson and published in 2021. Many of his recent books (Marty & Irene, Tír na nÓg, Celtic Twilight, Celtic Song, Ragnarok, Celtic Dawn) are published by Steve Cawte of Impspired.
Wiggins has also had poems and other short pieces published by Clarendon House Publications, Sehnsucht: The C.S. Lewis Journal, and Sweetycat Press. Justin has a great zeal for life, work, community, writing, literature, art, pubs, bookstores, coffee shops, and for England, Scotland, and Ireland.
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