Christina Rossetti
A Victorian poet of profound devotional intensity and unsettling imagination, who wove themes of loss, temptation, and faith into enduring verse.
1830–1894 (age 64)·English poet·Birthday: December 5
Biography
Christina Rossetti lived a life of quiet drama, shaped by intense faith, ill health, and a brilliant artistic family. The youngest of the Pre-Raphaelite circle, she was the sister of painter-poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, but her voice was distinctly her own. While her brother's world was bohemian, Christina's was governed by a devout Anglo-Catholicism that led her to reject two suitors on religious grounds. This tension between earthly passion and spiritual yearning fuels her best work. Her 1862 collection, featuring the dazzling and eerie narrative poem 'Goblin Market,' established her reputation. The poem's surface is a fairy-tale warning, but its depths pulse with complex allegories about sisterhood, addiction, and redemption. In later life, often confined by illness, her poetry turned more exclusively toward devotional themes, but never lost its lyrical precision and emotional force, securing her place as one of the 19th century's essential poetic voices.
#1 When Christina Was Born
The biggest hits of 1830
Christina's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1830Born
1835Started school
1843Became a teenager
1846Could drive
1848Could vote
1851Turned 21
1860Turned 30
1870Turned 40
President: Ulysses S. Grant
1880Turned 50
Edison patents the incandescent light bulb
President: Rutherford B. Hayes
1890Turned 60
Wounded Knee massacre marks the end of the Indian Wars
President: Benjamin Harrison
1894Died at 64
President: Grover Cleveland
Key Achievements
- Published 'Goblin Market and Other Poems' in 1862, her breakthrough collection that remains a classic of Victorian literature.
- Wrote the poem 'In the Bleak Midwinter,' which later became one of the most beloved English Christmas carols after being set to music.
- Was a significant influence on later poets including Gerard Manley Hopkins and Virginia Woolf.
- Became the first woman to be nominated for the Poet Laureateship in 1892, though the honor went to Alfred Austin.
Did You Know?
She volunteered for a decade at the St. Mary Magdalene Penitentiary in Highgate, a charity for 'fallen women.'
Rossetti was an avid collector of porcelain, particularly blue-and-white Nankeen china.
She suffered from Graves' disease, which affected her appearance and contributed to her reclusive tendencies later in life.
“For there is no friend like a sister in calm or stormy weather; To cheer one on the tedious way, to fetch one if one goes astray.”
