Customer Reviews

Goblin Market and Other Poems (Dover Thrift Editions)

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Whether you happen to know the how's and why's of Christana Rossetti's life and time, her poetry, and especially Goblin Market, is truely amazing. Of course knowing her circumstanses only makes the joy and fascination even bigger for a comtemporary reader. The courage and the cost for a woman to be able to write what she wrote can only be imagined. She is the original Girl Power if ever there was such a thing and Goblin Market a legacy of its time.

I think Goblin Market was a wonderful book for whatever type of life you happen to live. Each and every poem can be interpereted in so many different ways to pertain to your own life. The poems were not meant to be taken literally word for word, and the religious aspects of the book do not necessarily need to be interpereted just as they are written. It is a book of poems written by a strong woman that was not afraid to show her feelings. I recommend it to anyone that enjoys poetry and has an open and thoughtful mind.

I remember reading Goblin Market for class at my university for British Literature. It was one of the best peoms I have ever read in that class. The imagery is fantastic and passionate.

When I found out that Goblin Market was published in this book, I was overjoyed. The other peoms were really delightful and really fit in with Goblin Market. Many of the peoms have religious and feminine themes in them, but are simply amazing. It's worth reading at least once.

The lead Amazon review, I think, is very much off the mark. Rossetti's works include passionate, idealized references to men, so it is doubtful she was a lesbian. Therefore Goblin Market was likely an outlet for the strong sexuality of a strong woman bound by the conventions of Victorian society. It has been speculated that Goblin Market, as a poetic work of Pre-Raphaelite fantasy fiction, was written with the expectation that its sexual symbolism would be recognized by readers. I disagree, and believe many Victorians took it as a cautionary allegory warning girls against the wiles of the "coarser gender". Until some literary scholar of the period or of Rossetti steps forward with definitive social or biographical information, I believe Victorian mothers may have read this work to young daughters, both blind to the innuendos and imagery. That said, whether Goblin Market's nuances were meant to be patent or subliminal, it stands as a classic of its literary type, and is an exquisite, sensuous and passionate poetical work.

This e-book poem collection is definitely worth $1.99. The poem "Goblin Market" is fantastic, and utterly unique classic poem. FYI, this poem is 27 pages long (as displayed on my Kindle). I liked some of the other poems, but Rossetti tends to dwell too much on death and dying. Goblin Market was a work of true genius, though, and it is not depressing. If you like fantasy and faerie tales, you will like this poem.

Christina Rossetti is one of my favorite poets of all time. I had to read some of her poetry for my British Literature class two years ago, and I really enjoyed this collection a lot.

Most of her peoms are very elegantly written and easy to relate to. She wrote about strong female empowerment way before it was even fashionable to do. The imagery is powerful, passionate and clear. Many of her poems have strong Christian religious themes to them, but at the time when I first read the book I wasn't even a true Christian and missed the symbolizism. Her poetry is almost philosophical in that it stays long after the book was read.

...however, a lot of the other works contained in this short compilation are a bit too feminine for my tastes. Also, unfortunately, a lot of the Judeo-Christian religious references do not exactly "float my boat." Goblin Market, though, is an exquisite epic to be enjoyed by all.