In reading through the poems this week, I found myself most interested in “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti. At first read I was a bit bored and wondering when the poem would ever come to an end. As I continued to read through the poem I grew more and more interested so much so that I found myself determined to discover the meaning.
As I do with every piece of material that I read I try to place myself in the story. Rossetti made this quite easy as she often listed several descriptions, one right after the other. “Like two pigeons in one nest Folded in each other's wings, They lay down in their curtain'd bed: Like two blossoms on one stem, Like two flakes of new-fall'n snow, Like two wands of ivory Tipp'd with gold for awful kings.” (Rossetti lines 185 to 191). For me, I felt this made the visualization much easier.
I was drawn to the relationship between the two sisters, “Laura rose with Lizzie: Fetch'd in honey, milk'd the cows, Air'd and set to rights the house, Kneaded cakes of whitest wheat, Cakes for dainty mouths to eat, Next churn'd butter, whipp'd up cream, Fed their poultry, sat and sew'd; Talk'd as modest maidens should.” (Rossetti lines 202 to 209) As it would seem in just these few lines they worked well together. One may assume they were similar, “Lizzie with an open heart, Laura in an absent dream, One content, one sick in part; One warbling for the mere bright day's delight, One longing for the night.“ (Rossetti lines 210 to 214) As I continued to read I realized they were both very different, almost opposites. I admired Lizzie’s courage when she decided to approach the Goblins after watching Laura suffer. Never did I expect the poem to end as it did.
Click here to read more from Christina Rossetti.
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