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Poetry Christina Rossetti > goblin market > Flashcards

Flashcards in goblin market Deck (31)
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1
Q

alternative interpretations

A

religion - Laura Eve, Goblins Serphant

gender and sexuality

cautionary tale of female desire

2
Q

form

A

is experimental

it never conforms to a set rhyme scheme or metrical pattern

3
Q

written

A

1860s, when Rossetti was volunteering at ‘St Mary Magdalene Penitentiary for Fallen Women’ at Highgate

critics have argued that the themes of temptation and sexual desire are influenced by this

4
Q

imported fruit

A

grapes, pomegranates, dates ….

could be a warning of the changing commercial marketplace

5
Q

“come buy, come buy”

A

imperatives - insistent voices of men

6
Q

feminism

A

although Rossetti was not generally perceived as a feminist in her own day, various critics have applied the term to her

her writing often seems to suggest and promote the belief that women are equal to men - Lisa Scholl

7
Q

“curious Laura chose to linger”

A

struggle between the consequences of pursuing lust and the need to explore human desires

8
Q

victorian women

A

were seen as passionless angels in the home, but Karen Armstrong believes that in this poem, Rossetti is challenging this

9
Q

in victorian society

A

a woman’s loss of virginity was meant to mark her transition from youth to adulthood and motherhood

10
Q

“my mouth waters still”

A

challenges victorian ideal that women didn’t feel passion

11
Q

Laura is “like a leaping flame”

A

her passion is shown to be unhealthy and dangerous

12
Q

an alternative reading

A

a drug addiction or alcoholism - “listless”, “sunk eyes”

13
Q

loss of innocence

A

“must she then buy no more”

14
Q

references to buying and selling

A

if women in Victorian england failed to meet the standards of ordinary conduct, it would deplete their worth on the marriage market

15
Q

language of sexual violence

A

“tore her gown”

“squeezed their fruits against her mouth”

16
Q

penny

A

“flung back her penny” - perhaps link to “silver penny”, an Elizabethan word for female genitalia

held onto her virginity

17
Q

in the end

A

they both conform to their expected role as “both were wives”

18
Q

in this poem

A

there is an absence of a patriarchal figure

19
Q

Rossetti’s attitude

A

towards unconventionality and social outcasts is significant, as she seems to encourage an ideology of acceptance rather than judgement

20
Q

Rossetti addresses

A

the restrictions placed on women - she pulls down the ideological boundaries of femininity - Lesa Scholl

21
Q

in Rossetti’s account

A

Laura’s fall is markedly different from the usual (male) Victorian version

22
Q

polarized sisters

A

“Laura bowed her head to hear, / Lizzie veiled her blushes”

Lizzie’s blush implies she knows what enticement is

23
Q

historical anticipation

A

Lizzie does not eat Goblin fruit even though they “squeezed their fruits / Against her mouth to make her eat”

the struggle for female suffrage at the end of the century led to the forced feeding of women who had gone on hunger strike

24
Q

poems last word

A

“stands” - Laura who is standing

Lizzie “stood like a lily in a flood” which has enabled Laura to stand

25
Q

Grimm’s fairytale Rumpelstiltskin

A

goblins disappear as soon as the are defeated, just as they “vanished” when Lizzie resisted them

26
Q

untypical of folk stories

A

due to its richly abundant description - much more like a Pre-Raphaelite painting

27
Q

Jeanie died before experiencing

A

the “joys brides hope to have” - status of a wife, control of her own home and the pleasures of motherhood

all of which, Nora sacrifices in order to gain independence

28
Q

in English writing

A

fruit was often used in descriptions of sexual pleasure - the goblins language can be read as arousing sexual longing - “taste them and try” - invitation to sexual indulgence

29
Q

rather than saying this poem means this

A

use : “shows a concern for” or “touches on”

it’s an allegory, fable, parable

30
Q

conceived as

A

a moral tale to be read aloud in the penitentiary

31
Q

her brother’s alcoholism

A

is reflected in the poem’s themes of the dangers of excess and of unbridled appetite

self-destruction by a means of self-indulgence