english5

In this lesson we began studying our 2cnd Christina Rossetti poem called Cousin Kate. This poem was interesting as it was about the gender inequalities in the time she was living in and how women were unfairly judged. The poem was about a woman who met a rich man a believed she was in love with him and had sex with him despite not being married. At the time this was considered sinful. The man she loves uses her and leaves her for her more virtuous cousin Kate, who is a virgin and is considered more beautiful and pure. However the poet leads you to believe that Kate cannot have children, the one thing which the narrator does possess of his. There is a sense of pride yet shame from the narrator, who is seen as unpure to the other people in the poem. Rossetti wants the reader to feel as though the narrator has been victimised and interestingly gives a negative image of her cousin Kate, by showing her as shallow, but continues her theme of men being evil and corrupting women.

english4

I found it interesting to discuss different themes of the poem. The five themes of the poem are; Erotic, Feminist, Marxist, Redemptive and Moral. These all had a different impact on the poem and gave a different interpretation of the poem. For example the theme of eroticism is undeniable as the poem expresses the idea of innocence and virginity throughout and the way it is taken from Laura. There is also a strong feminist theme as the poem portrays women as being virtuous and good whereas men are seen a no more than violent creatures which are evil and are there to try and corrupt women. As well as this Rossetti describes the pure bond between women and how there is nothing stronger. I found marxist difficult to relate to the poem as it does not seem as if the goblins want money, however it could be argued that innocence is simply and different form of payment and by selling that it is more valuable to them. There is recurring theme of Christianity in the poem and I feel the themes of redemptive and moral are combined as the both relate to the stories from the bible. For example when Lizzie sacrifices herself for Laura it is similar to Christ's sacrifice.

english3

I found discussing the concept of morality interesting as we could pull apart the poem and see how the Rossetti had incorporated the ideas of morality throughout the poem. By analysing the poem we came to the conclusion that Rossetti had used ideas from religion in Goblin Market. She used themes from the story of Adam and Eve aswell as other ideas from the bible such as sacrifice and temptation.

Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti is considered to be one of the most famous poets in 19th century England. She was the sister to painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti. She was very religious and this had a big impact in her work as she often interpreted this into her poetry. She had Italien parents, one of which was Gabriele Rossetti who was also a poet. It was obvious she shared her parents interest in poetry and followed their footsteps in becoming a poet.

English2

I found this lesson interesting because of the way we analysed 'Goblin Market.' By reading the poem it was interesting to understand and deconstruct the Rossetti's technique and the way she used different methods to insinuate the story. I also found the themes of the poem interesting as it helped me understand the way she has interpreted these things into her poem subtly whilst still leaving the reader knowing what has happened but without making it too obvious.

english

I found the concept of a writer beginning the story by giving an idea of the destination of the story interesting as it lets the reader decide whether or not the book would be something they are interested in, for example the way Pride and Prejudice is started you can instantly tell it is going to be about marriage. Another interesting point in the lesson was that sometimes things like describing characters become irrevilant compared to the more important topics of the novel.