Goblin Fruit & Bitter Aftertaste: A Thoughtful Look at The Goblin Market
Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market has been labeled many things over the years: children’s poem, moral fable, feminist allegory, religious parable. Reading it now, as an adult and outside an academic setting, I found myself less enchanted by its legacy and more preoccupied with how it actually felt to read.
Hype Report
Over-hyped.
Aesthetic
The Cover
The Goblin Market cover features a lovely illustration of the title poem. This is one of the reasons that I chose this version to download. I didn’t see anywhere in the ebook where the artist was attributed. Shame, because it’s great!
Interior
The ebook was listed as having 88 pages, but at page 88 there was still another 20% or so left in the ebook.
Did the design affect whether I bought the book?
Yes, I liked the illustration as opposed to other versions of the book.
Summary
In Short
Two sisters tempted by the fruits of Goblin men, one falls to temptation, the other resists to redeem her.
From the Publisher
An important and often-quoted literary figure, the English poet Christina Rossetti (1830–1894) wrote some of the most beautiful and voluptuous poetry in the English language. Like Emily Dickinson, she lived in self-imposed isolation, writing of God and lost love with a sensuality and passion that seemed to emanate from the soul.
This edition of 53 works combines a number of her best-known sonnets, ballads, and shorter lyrics with her long masterpiece, the narrative fable Goblin Market. A haunting fairy tale in verse, Goblin Market was once labeled a children’s poem, yet its intricate symbolism and themes of temptation, sin, and redemption mark it for an adult audience. Among other works included in this choice collection are “The Convent Threshold,” “Up-hill,” “Cousin Kate,” “Winter: My Secret,” “Maude Clare,” “No, Thank You, John,” and “After Death.”
Character Analysis
The Goblin Market doesn’t spare much time on character development, but casts one sister as weak of virtue and the other strong of virtue.
Writing Style
Rossetti uses colorful language and phrasing that paints vivid imagery in the readers mind.
Themes
Themes in The Goblin Market include temptation, sex, virtue, sisterly love, and sacrifice.
Other poems in the collection have varying themes.
Critical Evaluation
As a narrative poem, The Goblin Market delivers a fairytale complete with dark undertones and a lesson in virtuosity. The language is lush and beautiful.
Personal Opinion
The Goblin Market and Other Poems was categorically not for me. It was too religious and had undertones of sexual assault and incest that I found distasteful. While some of the other poems were interesting, I was bored with most of the book. It was thankfully short at under 100 pages.
Recommendation
If you like poetry as a rule and narrative poetry specifically, and prefer dated religious themes or want to study it academically, this might be for you.
Do you read poetry? Tell me about your favorites.
Buy This Book
May your life be as full as your bookshelf and as long as your TBR list.
Happy Reading!
0 Comments