Critics - Christina Rossetti

• Barbara Modern on ‘Remember’ - "Rossetti asks the reader to repeatedly to forget so she assures remembrance. This technique of denying in order to affirm is called apophasis. It is a technique used to create ambiguity, so Rossetti is covering herself against the charges of ungodly and unfeminine discontent"
• Barbara Modern’s interpretation of 'Remember' illuminates how Rossetti employs apophasis to navigate the fraught expectations placed upon Victorian women, subtly asserting agency through apparent self-effacement - By repeatedly instructing her beloved to "forget," Rossetti paradoxically immortalizes herself in memory, performing a delicate balancing act between pious resignation and an unspoken yearning for significance - This technique allows Rossetti to veil personal discontent beneath a surface of Christian humility, protecting her from accusations of spiritual impropriety or unfeminine rebellion
• Betty Flowers - "Disappointments experienced in those earthly relationships are ostensibly set up as ‘opposites’ to the heavenly ones"
• Betty Flowers' interpretation highlights how Rossetti constructs a binary between earthly and divine love, presenting human relationships as inevitably fraught and insufficient when contrasted with the perfection of heavenly connection - In Rossetti’s poetry, earthly disappointments become almost necessary stages of spiritual refinement, driving the speaker towards divine consolation - This structuring reflects Rossetti’s Tractarian-inflected belief in the transience of worldly attachments and the superiority of spiritual fulfilment
• Lynda Palazzo on 'Goblin Market' - "Rossetti has radically rewritten the Fall of Eve in terms of the social and spiritual abuse of women which she sees around her and includes more than a hint that male gender oppression be interpreted as original sin"
• Lynda Palazzo's reading positions 'Goblin Market' as a subversive reimagining of the Fall, with Rossetti using biblical symbolism to critique the pervasive spiritual and social victimisation of women - By framing male gender oppression as a form of "original sin", Rossetti merges theological and feminist concerns, exposing the structural injustices embedded within Victorian society - This radical reinterpretation aligns with her broader preoccupations with redemption, sacrifice, and the consequences of moral corruption
• Dorothy Mermin - "Christina Rossetti stopped trying to rebel: in her devotional writings she finds an appropriate place for conventional women’s voice"
• Dorothy Mermin's interpretation suggests that Christina Rossetti ultimately relinquishes overt rebellion, instead channelling her resistance into the acceptable confines of devotional poetry - Within this space, Rossetti crafts a voice that is both conventionally feminine and quietly subversive, negotiating societal expectations without directly confronting them - Her religious verse thus becomes a sophisticated vehicle for restrained yet profound exploration of identity, suffering, and spiritual longing
• Kathleen Blake - "Rossetti makes the woman in love the emblem of radical insufficiency and dependence upon external dispensation"
• Kathleen Blake's interpretation underscores how Rossetti portrays the woman in love as a symbol of profound inadequacy, reliant on an external, often divine, source for fulfilment - In this framing, love is not an empowering force but one that exposes vulnerability and dependence, reflecting the Victorian ideal of women’s emotional fragility - Rossetti’s poetry, particularly in its exploration of female desire, thus becomes a meditation on spiritual longing, positioning human relationships as ultimately incomplete without divine intervention
• Touché - "Longings and cravings are ever present in Christina Rossetti’s poetry, especially in poems such as 'Goblin Market', whose deeper root was sexual frustration"
• Touché's interpretation highlights how Christina Rossetti's poetry, especially in works like 'Goblin Market', is saturated with desires that go beyond the surface, often rooted in sexual frustration - The poem’s rich imagery and the tension between temptation and restraint suggest an exploration of suppressed sexual longing, reflecting the restrictive moral and social climate of the Victorian era - By embedding these desires within a narrative of sisterly sacrifice and spiritual salvation, Rossetti cleverly critiques societal repression while also grappling with her own internal conflicts regarding desire and purity
• Dolores Rosenblum - "Rossetti’s poetry shows that what was ostensibly devotional, moral, and loveless, was actually what Luce Irigaray calls "mimetism," a subtle parody and diversion of the male tradition of literature"
• Dolores Rosenblum’s reading of Rossetti’s poetry through the lens of Luce Irigaray’s concept of 'mimetism' reveals a subversive depth in works that outwardly appear devotional, moral, and devoid of earthly passion - Rather than merely adhering to the conventions of Victorian religious sentiment, Rossetti’s poetry subtly parodies and diverts the male-dominated literary tradition by incorporating themes of repressed female desire and spiritual longing - This approach allows Rossetti to critique patriarchal norms while simultaneously engaging with them, creating a space for female subjectivity that both conforms to and defies the expectations placed on women
• Dolores Rosenblum’s reading of Rossetti’s poetry through the lens of Luce Irigaray’s concept of mimetism reveals a subversive depth beneath seemingly devotional, moral surfaces - On the surface, 'Goblin Market' could be interpreted as a cautionary tale about the dangers of female sexual desire, yet Rossetti subtly parodies the male literary tradition by presenting the "fall" as a consequence of societal and sexual oppression - Redemption comes not through male intervention but through female agency and solidarity, turning the traditional narrative of sin and salvation on its head - In doing so, Rossetti critiques patriarchal structures while appearing to conform to them