Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

English poet. Born in London into a family of artists, scholars and writers. Brothers William and Dante Gabriel Rossetti were founding members of the art movement the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. 


A devout High Anglican, she suffered a nervous breakdown as a teenager, which was described as 'religious mania'. She fell in love with various suitors, but rejected them all because they didn't share her religious conditions. Religious themes dominate her work, which explores the tensions between earthly passions and divine love. 
Often considered an early 'feminist', she displayed her concern for female fellowship by volunteering for 10 years at St Mary Magdalene's penitentiary for prostitutes and unmarried mothers in Highgate. Her verse includes 'Goblin Market and Other Poems' (1862) and expresses unfulfilled spiritual yearning and frustrated love. She contracted Graves Disease later in life, and the loss of beauty is also a recurrent theme. 
She was a skilful technician and made use of irregular rhyme and line length. 
Best known for writing the carol, 'In the Bleak Midwinter'.
Suggested reading





Battiscombe, Georgina 'Christina Rossetti' (1981)
Bellas, Ralph 'Christina Rossetti' (1977)
Thomas, Frances 'Christina Rossetti' (1992)