About Christina Rossetti
Christina Rossetti, born in London, was an English poet who wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children's poems. She wrote the poems Goblin Market and Remember, and the words of the Christmas carol In the Bleak Midwinter. Rossetti is best known for her ballads and her mystic religious lyrics. Her poetry is marked by symbolism and intense feeling. Rossetti’s best-known work, Goblin Market and Other Poems, was published in 1862. The collection established Rossetti as a significant voice in Victorian poetry. She published her first two poems (Death's Chill Between and Heart's Chill Between), which appeared in the Athenaeum, in 1848 when she was 18. Although Rossetti's popularity during her lifetime did not approach that of Elizabeth Barrett Browning, her standing remained strong after her death. In the early 20th century Rossetti's popularity faded in the wake of Modernism. Scholars began to explore Freudian themes in her work, such as religious and sexual repression, reaching for personal, biographical interpretations of her poetry. Rossetti's Christmas poem In the Bleak Midwinter became widely known after her death when set as a Christmas carol first by Gustav Holst, and then by Harold Darke. Her poem Love Came Down at Christmas (1885) has also been widely arranged as a carol. Rossetti is honoured with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Anglican Church on 27 April.Browse all poems and texts published on Christina Rossetti
