The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics) [Mass Market Paperback]

Christina Rossetti (Author), R. W. Crump (Author), Betty S. Flowers (Author)

Book Description

Series: Penguin Classics | Publication Date: June 28, 2005

Rossetti is unique among Victorian poets for the sheer range of her subject matter and the variety of her verse form. This collection brings together fantasy poems, such as Goblin Market, and terrifyingly vivid verses for children, love lyrics and sonnets, and the vast body of her devotional poetry. Rossetti's poems weave connections between love and death, triumph and loss, heavenly joys and earthly pleasures. The directness and clarity of her lyrics still have the power to startle us with their truth and beauty.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Christina Rossetti (1830-1894), sister of the poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was educated at home and shared her family's intellectual interests. Ill-health ended her work as a governess and later made her an invalid. Her poetry was first published in 1850 in the Pre-Raphaelite magazine, The Germ, and several volumes of poetry followed, demonstrating an extraordinary emotional and technical range. Betty Sue Flowers is Professor of English at the University of Texas at Austin.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 1312 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Classics (June 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140423664
• ISBN-13: 978-0140423662
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,296 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent volume, November 12, 2003

By 

Oli (United Kingdom) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is a comprehensive volume of the work from the greatest woman poet ever to write in the English Language. It contains all of her poems, properly organised into the correct categories (and a decent index!). It doesn't have any of the prose work like Speaking Likenesses or Face of the Deep, but for her skilled, deep, and beautiful poetry this publication is essential.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fields of poetic flowers, April 21, 2009

By 

William Timothy Lukeman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

After the mysterious, luscious wonders of the acclaimed "Goblin Market," I was eager to sample more of Christina Rossetti's work. Selecting this immense volume of complete poems was a bit of a leap in the dark ... but it was definitely the right choice!

The root of her poetry's lasting power is twofold, I think.

Firstly, there's the undeniable craft & artistry of it. Rossetti possesses the gift of writing melodic, evocative poetry seemingly without effort -- whatever hard work went on behind the scenes, the result on the page is always natural, compelling, and transporting. Even the poems of grief & sorrow have a somber beauty to them, a melancholy loveliness that adorns death without masking it.

Secondly, there's the interplay between Rossetti's Victorian worldview -- a mixture of sentiment, complex piety, and a stark awareness of death -- and the personal psychological forces running below the surface, often sensual & erotic. All too easy for the clashing of these things to produce confusion; but in Rossetti's case, they blend to create a remarkable & very deep wellspring of poetry.

So we have such dreamlike poems as "The Dead City," as well as the many devotional poems -- and all draw upon that same vivid, intense power. Even for the agnostic or atheist, the religious poems often possess a rich & disturbing beauty. And there are many more poems in the same opulent vein as "Goblin Market."

This volume provides brief, informative textual notes that illuminate Rossetti's sources & references. But the poetry itself is not only quite accessible to the reader, it's also as irresistable as the sweet, addictive fruit offered by the sinister goblins. Most highly recommended!

5.0 out of 5 stars I am in love..., January 12, 2011

By 

C.F. MacTavish (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Complete Poems (Penguin Classics) (Mass Market Paperback)

My best friend told me about his passion for Christina Rossetti years ago and of course, I filed this tidbit away in my brain and only thought about it back in December when I really needed some inspirational poetry to speak to me. I'm not just discussing her religious poems, I'm discussing her entire works, period. It's very rare that a poet can speak to me like this, and have me copying down her poems for others to enjoy, but that's what I've been doing. Even a simple turn of phrase slays me.

She was so far ahead of her time. Well, her whole family were total geniuses. All I can say is that I am passionately in love with her work. I wish I could have known her.