Christina Rossetti: Passion & Devotion (Illustrated Poetry Anthology) (Hardcover)

~ (Author), K. E. Sullivan (Author)
Key Phrases: goblin men, Jessie Cameron, Maude Clare

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Reclusive, melancholy poet Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) waged "a lifelong struggle with feminist desires" and attempted to reconcile ambition and autonomy with the Victorian ideal of womanhood, in Marsh's analysis. Rossetti, who believed herself descended from Petrarch's Laura (a claim with little if any foundation), campaigned against cruelty to animals, and her volunteer work with prostitutes at Highgate penitentiary inspired her allegorical poem Goblin Market. Marsh (The Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood) illuminates Rossetti's sibling rivalry with her flamboyant brother, painter-poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and shows how the despair and paranoia of their invalid father, Gabriele, an embittered Italian exile-poet-librettist-professor, helped trigger Christina's adolescent breakdown, which left her with a lifelong tendency to guilt and self-castigation. Quoting extensively from the poetry, Marsh unlocks Rossetti's intense inner life in an engrossing, nuanced biography. She also explores the poet's fanciful tales and devotional writings to uncover her private battle with grief and preoccupation with death. Photos.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Marsh, an English authority on writers and artists of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, focuses here on Christina Rossetti, a talented, creative woman of Victorian England. Overshadowed by her artistic brother, Dante Gabriel, uncompromising in her religious belief of the submissive role of women, and faithful to her filial duties, Rossetti wrote poetry throughout her life as a means of self-expression. Marsh makes use of letters, diaries, and other previously unavailable source materials to show how Rossetti's verse was a response to the people and events that shaped her life. In doing so, however, Marsh occasionally makes broad interpretive assumptions that bring a new depth to the traditional view of Rossetti as a minor religious poet. Although Marsh's storytelling is often slow-moving and the explications forced, the work is a well-researched and scholarly study of a talented woman whose literary contributions deserve renewed attention.?Denise Sticha, Seton Hill Coll. Lib., Greensburg, Pa.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Chelsea House Publications (March 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1860193870
• ISBN-13: 978-1860193873
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,080,617 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine Poetry Complemented by Fine Paintings, February 20, 2000

By	[e-mail] (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

In the pre-raphaelite spirit of detailed craftsmanship this accomplished range of Christina Rossetti's poetry is illustrated by fine works of art that includes paintings by her brother and other pre-raphaelite painters, all contrasting with today's ugly, imitative fashions.

(Please note: This book is not entitled Passion and Devastion but Passion and Devotion)