Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood

Christina Rossetti’s Old and New Year Ditties strike me as somewhat melancholy and I can’t help but feel a bit sorry for her when I read them:

1
New Year met me somewhat sad:
Old Year leaves me tired,
Stripped of favourite things I had
Baulked of much desired:
Yet farther on my road to-day
God willing, farther [...]

I enjoy this poem by Christina Rossetti  for its simplicity and for its deeper meaning.  Taken from her book Sing-Song  which was published in 1893.  You can see a digitized version of the first edition via Google Books. Illustrations by Arthur Hughes.

An emerald is as green as grass;
A ruby red as blood;
A sapphire [...]

It pains me that Christina Rossetti was completely overlooked and left out of the miniseries Desperate Romantics. Since the program has brought new visitors to my site, I thought I would share one of her poems, Goblin Market.  Also, for those interested, you can download a free audiobook of Goblin Market here.
Goblin Market
by [...]

YouTube user poetryanimations has a haunting body of work.  I’ve embedded one of my favorites below, Christina Rossetti’s The Echo:

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When discussing poetry and the Pre-Raphaelites, it is impossible not to think of Christina Rossetti.  Her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was one of the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and used Christina as a model in some of his early Pre-Raphaelite works (The Girlhood of Mary Virgin and Ecce Ancilla Domini).
The poem I’ve chosen [...]

An Echo from Willowwood by Christina Rossetti
“O ye, all ye that walk in Willowwood.” (D.G. Rossetti)
Two gazed into a pool, he gazed and she,
Not hand in hand, yet heart in heart, I think,
Pale and reluctant on the water’s brink,
As on the brink of parting which must be.
Each eyed the other’s aspect, she and he,
Each [...]

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