Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti Poems

Christina Rossetti was one of the most important poets of the Victorian age. She wrote several important pieces of poetry, many of which were published in Goblin Market and other Poems. Interest in Rossetti’s poetry has only increased in the decades since her death. Read more about Christina Rossetti.

Goblin Market

by Christina Rossetti

‘Goblin Market’ is one of Christina Rossetti’s most famous and well-studied poems. The symbolism in the poem has led to a number of interpretations. One could argue that it is a metaphor for drug addiction or female purity.

Rossetti is considered one of the foremost poets of the Victorian era, known for her lyrical style and her exploration of themes such as love, death, and spirituality. 'Goblin Market' is one of her most famous works, if not her most famous. The poem is celebrated for its lyrical beauty and its exploration of themes such as sexuality, temptation, and the power of the natural world.

Morning and evening

Maids heard the goblins cry:

“Come buy our orchard fruits,

Come buy, come buy:

Explore more poems from Christina Rossetti

A Bird Song

by Christina Rossetti

‘A Bird Song’ by Christina Rossetti describes, through the interactions of swallows, the need a speaker has for a consistent companion. 

A Birthday

by Christina Rossetti

The poem, A Birthday, with its sixteen lines of distilled beauty, is one of Christian Rossetti’s most popular poems and

A Dirge

by Christina Rossetti

‘A Dirge’ by Christina Rossetti is a thoughtful and moving poem about death. It speaks on the birth and death of an important person in the speaker’s life.

A Hope Carol

by Christina Rossetti

‘A Hope Carol’ describes a liminal space in which a speaker is existing and the elements which inspire her to hope for the future. 

After Death

by Christina Rossetti

‘After Death’ is a Petrarchan Sonnet by Victorian poet Christina Rossetti. It skillfully explores themes of death and tragic love.

An Apple Gathering

by Christina Rossetti

‘An Apple Gathering’ is a first-person account of a woman who had a relationship before marriage and suffered the societal consquences.

I plucked pink blossoms from mine apple-tree

And wore them all that evening in my hair:

Then in due season when I went to see

I found no apples there.

At Home

by Christina Rossetti

‘At Home’ describes the plight of a ghost who is kept separate from happiness, friends, and her no longer possible future.

Cousin Kate

by Christina Rossetti

‘Cousin Kate’ speaks to the circumstance of women during the Victorian era. The period in which Rossetti wrote this poem makes the message all the more meaningful.

De Profundis

by Christina Rossetti

‘De Profundis’ by Christina Rossetti describes a speaker’s longing for heaven, and the impossibility of reaching it during one’s lifetime. 

Oh why is heaven built so far, Oh why is earth set so remote? I cannot reach the nearest star That hangs afloat.

Dream Land

by Christina Rossetti

‘Dream Land’ by Christina Rossetti is a four stanza poem which has been separated into sets eight lines, or octaves.

Echo

by Christina Rossetti

An echo is a concept that initially might feel ill-suited for poetic purposes. Of course, most are familiar with the

Holy Innocents

by Christina Rossetti

‘Holy Innocents’ by Christina Rossetti is one of the famous devotional poems written by the poet. Christina Rossetti and Elizabeth

I wish I could remember that first day

by Christina Rossetti

‘I wish I could remember that first day’ by Christina Rossetti is also known as ‘First Day.’ It focuses on the speaker’s regret that she can’t remember more about her first love.

I wish I could remember that first day,

   First hour, first moment of your meeting me,

   If bright or dim the season, it might be

Summer or winter for aught I can say;

Let Me Go

by Christina Rossetti

In ‘Let Me Go,’ readers will find a soothing and peaceful depiction of death from the perspective of someone about to face it. 

May

by Christina Rossetti

‘May’ by Christina Rossetti describes an unknown, now finished, event a speaker experienced in the warm, young and pleasant month of May.

Memory

by Christina Rossetti

Rossetti’s Memory is a poem that explores the difficulty she faces in struggling with the connection between earth and heaven.