Goblin market by Christina Rossetti summary

 

 Goblin market is a long narrative poem written by Christina Rossetti, the popular among the pre-Raphaelites. She establishes an ambiance of fantasy and supernaturalism. Its like a fairy tale still opened for serious critical interpretations.  

Lizzie and Laura were sisters and they go to fetch water from a nearby stream every evening.  They often listen to the tempting calls of goblin men selling delicious fruits. Lizzie was afraid of the goblins and warns her sister to keep away from them. When they catch sight of the goblins displaying their products on golden platters, Lizzie runs home, but Laura is enchanted. Their demonic appearance no longer threatens but rather fascinated her.

The goblins tried their level best to make her closer to them by making strange noises. Although Laura has no money, the goblins accept a lock of her hair as payment for the fruit.

Laura enjoys the delicious taste of the fruit. She consumes the last drop of it and returns to home. Intoxicated by the sweet nectars. She brought the fruit seed to home with her. Lizzie meets Laura at the gateway to their home and scolds her sister for returning late. She recollects and tells the tale of their friend Jeanie, who ate a piece of the goblin fruit and then became sick and died because she could not get any more. Laura assures her sister that all is well and that she plans to buy enough fruit for both of them the next day. The sisters proceed with their housework. The next day, Laura discovers that she cannot see the goblins anymore nor hear their calls, although Lizzie still can. Laura yearns for the fruit, losing her health and youthful vigor. Suddenly, the thought of the seed came to her mind and she planted it quickly. But she could not get a positive outcome. Her entire attempt was futile. As she could not cultivate even a plant out of the seed. As a result she stops eating and working.

Lizzie fears that Laura will die soon, so she places a silver penny in her purse and goes to the goblin men. She asks for fruit for her sister, but the goblins instead invite Lizzie to join their feast. When she refuses, the goblins beat her and try to force the fruit into her mouth, imprinting her face with juice. She was not ready to surrender before them and the goblins soon tire of torturing her.

Lizzie somehow managed to escape from them and reaches home. The moment Laura met her, she kisses and she once again tastes the heavenly taste of the juice, which cures all her ailments.  Laura awakens, her health and beauty restored. Years later, when they are both married, the two sisters tell their children the tale of the goblin men. Laura ends the story with the moral, “there is no friend like a sister.”

This long narrative poem primarily wrote for children, still it may lead to some complex interpretations. There are two popular interpretations of “Goblin Market”: one reading is religious, and the other focuses on gender and sexuality. It is difficult to prove Rossetti's original intention, scholars have invented a useful dichotomy. If the reader is more familiar with the religion, the reader will see the Christian allegory. However, if the reader is well versed in the study of gender and sexuality, then the symbolism will more readily relate to that topic.

In the religious perspective, Laura represents Eve, the goblin men are the equivalent of Satan, their fruit is the temptation to sin, and Lizzie is the Christ figure as she sacrifices her life for her sister in order to bring back to the life. Hence this is a homage to Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit in the Book of Genesis. The long list of the goblins' fruit represents the wide variety of temptations that humans face during their lifetimes. Like Adam and Eve, Laura discovers that the fruit does not bring fulfillment, but rather, death and destruction.

The second interpretation of Goblin Market is based on symbols of repressed sexual desire according to Sigmund freud and sexual violence. Lizzie and Laura are both innocent and virginal at the beginning of the poem, but Laura’s curiosity proves to be stronger than her sister’s warning. Rossetti creates an uncomfortable struggle between the consequences of pursuing lust and the need to explore natural human desires.

 

Porphyria's Lover by Robert Browning summary

 

The rain set early in to-night,

       The sullen wind was soon awake,

It tore the elm-tops down for spite,

       And did its worst to vex the lake:

       I listened with heart fit to break.

When glided in Porphyria; straight

       She shut the cold out and the storm,

And kneeled and made the cheerless grate

       Blaze up, and all the cottage warm;

       Which done, she rose, and from her form

Withdrew the dripping cloak and shawl,

       And laid her soiled gloves by, untied

Her hat and let the damp hair fall,

       And, last, she sat down by my side

       And called me. When no voice replied,

She put my arm about her waist,

       And made her smooth white shoulder bare,

And all her yellow hair displaced,

       And, stooping, made my cheek lie there,

       And spread, o'er all, her yellow hair,

Murmuring how she loved me — she

       Too weak, for all her heart's endeavour,

To set its struggling passion free From pride, 

       And give herself to me for ever.

But passion sometimes would prevail,

       Nor could to-night's gay feast restrain

A sudden thought of one so pale

       For love of her, and all in vain:

       So, she was come through wind and rain.

Be sure I looked up at her eyes

       Happy and proud; at last I knew

Porphyria worshipped me; surprise

       Made my heart swell, and still it grew

       While I debated what to do.

That moment she was mine, mine, fair,

       Perfectly pure and good: I found

A thing to do, and all her hair

       In one long yellow string I wound

       Three times her little throat around,

And strangled her. No pain felt she;

       I am quite sure she felt no pain.

As a shut bud that holds a bee,

       I warily oped her lids: again

       Laughed the blue eyes without a stain.

And I untightened next the tress

       About her neck; her cheek once more

Blushed bright beneath my burning kiss:

       I propped her head up as before,

       Only, this time my shoulder bore

Her head, which droops upon it still:

       The smiling rosy little head,

So glad it has its utmost will,

       And I, its love, am gained instead!

Porphyria's love:

And thus we sit together now,

       And all night long we have not stirred,

       And yet God has not said a word!

Porphyria's Lover by Robert Browning is the most celebrated dramatic monologue which deals with the enigmatic love and actions of the lover. The poem is open ended as it remains several unresolved confusions in the minds of the readers. Browning presents a mysterious lover in the poem he in fact shocks the readers with his abnormal psychology. The lover strangles his beloved with her long hair and expresses a sense of fulfilment and a perfect happiness. His odd and sadist mind is evident through his final actions with the corpse, as he finds ecstasy on killing his beloved.

The lover is the speaker in this dramatic monologue. He lives in a countryside cottage. That particular night was stormy and the beloved takes shelter in her lover’s cottage. She makes fire in the fireplace and takes off her wet dresses and gloves. She talks to her lover, but he remains silent. She embraces him and tells about the social barriers she has to face to meet him. She admits the fact that she loves him too much and the speaker realizes she worships him. He feels the genuine love from her for first time. He was eagerly waiting for such moment. He wants her to remain same with him for ever and ever. He fears she might not love him in the same manner if it becomes difficult for her to face the societal dogma and hierarchy. To capture the perfect moment forever, the eccentric lover decides something strange and winds her golden hair three times around her neck and kills her. She even does not protest and utter a sound.  He, then, talks to her dead body, opening her blue eyes, propping her body and calling her cheek ‘blushed’ and head ‘rosy little head’. Throughout the whole night he spent the time with her dead body and in the final line he shocked us stating that ‘And yet God has not said a word!’

Thus, the poem leaver several confusions. But, it can be justified as he wants to win her love forever. He has the fear that she might be lost. He thinks he can stop the loving moment and capture the time by killing her. The murder is committed to win her love forever.

The crime is one aspect of the poem. Another aspect is social attitude. The line "God has not said a word!" stands for social attitude. Entire Victorian culture was based on the male dominated perspective. This crime is sanctioned by the society. Nobody bothers to speak against this criminal activity. He has, in fact, committed murder, and he expects God to punish him or, at least, to take notice. The speaker is surprised, perhaps a little uneasy, at God's continued silence. God, here, may be symbolically stands for the male dominated society where the murder of a lady is noticed, but no action is taken against it.

The setting of the poem is quite violent. The violent nature outside has been juxtaposed with the violence in the mind  of the lover. The form of poetry, the dramatic lyric is used to explore the violence, lying inside the human psyche. The poem in fact makes a journey in to the dark shades of human psyche. The speaker seems convinced that Porphyria wanted to be murdered, and claims ‘No pain felt she’ while being strangled, adding, as if to convince himself, ‘I am quite sure she felt no pain.’ He may even believe she enjoyed the pain, because he, her lover, imposed it.

 

Features of Victorian Poetry

 

On Wordsworth’s death in 1850 Alfred Tennyson was made Poet Laureate. As a representative of the Victorian age (1850-1901) he well exhibited his poetic sensibility in general and Victorian temper in particular. The poetry of this age was in a way a succession of the romantic poetry with certain extension. The prominent figures of Victorian poetry were Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, Matthew Arnold, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Oscar Wilde, Christine Rossetti, Emily Bronte and Thomas Hardy etc. The Victorian Poetry exhibited the spirit of the age, some characteristics of the age were the conflict between science and religion and the economic changes.  

 

Following are the main characteristics of Victorian Poetry

 

Realism

The Victorian Poets were quite realistic and less imaginative in contrast to Romanic Poets. They were the followers of mindset Art for the Art’s Sake. Victorian poetry lost its idealize position accorded in the Romantic Age. 

 

Conflict Between Science & Religion

The most remarkable characteristics of Victorian poetry is its conflict between religion and science. It was a by-product of the intellectual developments of this age. The leading poets of this age reacted to this religious skepticism through their works. Robert Browning attempted to criticize religion in his poems like ‘Fra Lippo Lippi’. He also questioned the demands of the church that go against human nature.

Similarly, When Tennyson wrote ‘In Memoriam’, he raised many questions on life and death. The scientific approach to nature and human became a central theme in Victorian Poetry. Arnold’s poem ‘Dover Beach’ (1867), also addresses the decaying religious faith of the time. Thus, the advancement of science over religion became a topic of discussion in the age and the Victorian poets reflected such sensibility in their writing.

 

Use of Sensual images and perceptions

Romantic poets in general and John Keats in particular were well versed in the use of visual imageries to evoke sensory perceptions. They used the imagery vividly. However, Victorian poets also used imagery and senses to convey the chaos or struggle between Religion and Science, and ideas about Nature and Romance. Lord Alfred Tennyson, Christina Rossetti and Robert Browning prominently used the sensory and Imagery elements in their poems.

 

Tone of Pessimism

Victorian poets realized the tragic side of industrial modernity. Thus, Victorian poetry also highlighted the need of urban life and the loss of purity. The people turned to be much more materialistic. Hence, the poets wrote on isolation, despair, doubt and general pessimism that were prevalent in the era.

On the surface, Victorians seemed to enjoy the wealth and prosperity but the feelings of uncertainty, Cynicism and self-doubt very much reflects in the poems of this age. The issue of psychological isolation is common in almost all the great poems of the Victorian Era.

Tennyson’s poem, ‘Locksley Hall’ (1842) is about the restless of the young generation in England. Mathew Arnold explored the “strange disease of modern life” and the loneliness of modern-age men in his poem ‘The Scholar-Gipsy’ (1853). In ‘The City of Dreadful Night’, Arthur Hugh Clough deals with the note of Insomnia, unsettlement and Pessimism.

 

Interest in Medieval Myths and Legends

Just like the younger romantic poet John Keats the sense of medievalism went through the veins of Victorian poets. One can clearly mark Victorian Poetry with medieval Myths, legends and fables. Just as the Pre-Raphaelites attempted to restore the essence of medieval art in their poems, poets like Tennyson, William Morris and Swinburne wrote poetry on Arthurian legends of the Medieval Age.

Tennyson’s ‘Idylls of King Arthur’  was a series of four books that were based on King Arthur and the Round Table. In his other works such as ‘Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere’, ‘Sir Galahad’, and ‘Morte d’ Arthur’, Tennyson explored the vision of Medieval quests and tales.

 

Sentimentality

The Victorian poet focused the mind and slightly tried to express its complexity and sentiments. Browning significantly focused the dark shades of human mind or the sentiments. In addition poets like Alfred Tennyson, Emily Bronte prominently used the element of sentimentality in their poems.

 

Development of Dramatic Monologue

The dramatic monologue flourished in the Victorian age in the field of poetry. The works such as Alfred Tennyson’s “Ulysses’ (1842), ‘St Simeon Stylites’ (1842) and Mathew Arnold’s ‘Dover Beach’ are written in the form of the monologues.

Robert Browning popularized dramatic monologue in most of his works such as ‘My Last Duchess’, ‘Porphyria’s Lover’, ‘Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister’, ‘Men and Women’ and such others. These poems were published in Browning’s ‘Dramatic Lyrics’ in 1842.

Apart from the famous dramatic monologue, the Victorian poets also explored Sonnets, Epics, Elegies and Ballads. In this way, the Victorian poetry is the direct outcome of the Prevailing socio-economic, political and literary activities of the time.

 

A Radical Stream Within Victorian Poetry

When we talk about Victorian Poetry, it is about the broader stream of poetry in Victorian era. However, you somewhere ignore mentioning a group of poets in the very same era who were radical in their poetic approach. They advocated art and mysticism of pre-Raphael era (1428- 1848) and, narrowed their subject down to beauty, nature and art.

The radical Victorian poetry aimed unifying medieval art and poetry and sought promoting pre-Raphael era glory. Verses of this special stream is called as the pre-Raphaelite Poetry. Experts also label this stream of Poetry as Version 2 of the Romantic Poetry as they immensely harped on nature, beauty and emotions.

The Victorian Poets wrote on multiple themes and subjects. Precisely, the pre-Raphaelites poets are a subgroup within broader Victorian Age Poets. And, they focused on beauty, art, loveliness and mysticism alone.Tennyson, Browning and Arnold led the Victorian Poetry whereas, Rossetti (s), Morris and Swinburne led the Pre-Raphaelite poetry as pioneers.

 

History Lesson By Jeanette Armstrong

Out of the belly of Christopher’s ship
a mob bursts
Running in all direction
Pulling furs off animals

Shooting buffalo
Shooting each other
left and right

Father mean well
waves his makeshift wand
forgives saucer-eyed Indians

Red coated knights
gallop across the prairie

to get their men
and to build a new world

Pioneers and traders
bring gifts
Smallpox, Seagrams
and rice krispies

Civilization has reached
the promised land

Between the snap crackle pop
of smoke stacks
and multicoloured rivers
swelling with flower powered zee
are farmers sowing skulls and bones
and miners
pulling from gaping holes
green paper faces
of a smiling English lady

The colossi
in which they trust
while burying

breathing forests and fields
beneath concrete and steel
stand shaking fists
waiting to mutilate
whole civilizations
ten generations at a blow

Somewhere among the remains
of skinless animals
is the termination
to a long journey
and unholy search
for the power

glimpsed in a garden
forever closed
forever lost