A Fallen Woman and her Cousin Kate

  Cousin Kate is another Rosetti poem. I have to say that it is one that I prefer to Goblin Market. Though it is short, it holds a lot of meaning. The poem relates to the theme of fallen women, women who have lost vtheir virtue and have been cast out of society. It tells the tale of a "cottage maiden", who was "contented" and "Not mindful (she) was fair", implying innocence and demureness.
  This narrator describes how she fell in love with a "great lord" and how he "lured" hern to his home to lead a "shameless shameful life", showing us that she gave him her virginity which, though it should have been shameful, felt quite the opposite to her. She explains "he wore me like a silken knot" and describes herself as "his plaything", hinting that he just used her. But then he discarded her, "changed me like a glove", leaving her feeling like "an unclean thing".
  In the third stanza, the narrator addresses "...Lady Kate, my cousin Kate". We are told of how he chose Kate and "cast (her) by". The fourth stanza tells us that the lord "bound" Kate with "his ring". She bitterly comments that the neighbours called Kate "good and pure" and called her "an outcast thing" all gbecause she did not wear a ring.

  The next stanza grows even more bitter and shows the morality of the narrator, a bit ironic considering the fact she is considered a fallen woman -a woman of no morals whatsoever. She describes the love Kate had for the lord as "writ in sand", impying that it was fleeting and easy lost. She tells Kate "if you stood where I stand/ He'd not have won me with his love/ Nor bought me with his land", insinuating that she would not have betrayed Kate or have been bribed by him like she obviously must have been. She shows how truly loyal and strong she would have been when she says that she would have "spit into his face".
  The last stanza, and the best, brings out the strength and resilience of our narrator. She gloats to Kate  "Yet I've a gift you have not/ And seem not like to get", showing that despite being cast out of society she is still strong enough bite back. This gift she describes is the son she has conceived by the lord, who is her "shame" as her is the result of her loss of virtue, but is also her "pride" as any child is to its mother. This son of hers who should make her an outcast, she explains, will inherit his father's land as Kate seems unable to provide the lord with another heir -which grants our narrator power and therefore revenge over the cousin who betrayed her and the lord who jilted her. By the end of the poem, she seems to have the reader on her side, fully supporting her revenge.

More (make that a lot more) Goblin Market observations

  In the last post, I mentioned four other categories the interpretations of Goblin Market could fall into. In my opinion, it can most largely be interpreted as religious since, as I have mentioned on at least three other blog posts, Rosetti was deeply religious. Allusions to biblical tales can be found at every turn. For example, the 'forbidden fruit' that Laura consumes can be compared to the apple that Eve eats in Genesis. Additionally, the sacrifice Lizzie makes to save her sister can be linked to the crucifixion of Christ. I say this because Lizzie allows herself to be hurt and tortured in order to save Laura, just as Jesus allowed his tortuous death to save the sins of others.
  Feminism is another ever present part of the poem. Notice that we see the main characters are females and their antagonisers are males of the most grotesque nature, the latter could be symbolic of men in general. By the end of the poem, we see the girls triumphing over the goblin men too. The goblin men are rrepresented as monsters who only want to sow their fruits among women, a possible allusion to sex and impregnation. Also, they are portrayed as violent when they beat up Lizzie, implying that men damage women. When Lizzie refuses to 'part her lips', it can be seen as a sign of female resistance. Another thing to notice is that even in the end no males -fathers -are mentioned.    
   Themes of redemption and morality stand tall in this poem. It is presented like a folktale for children, which usually have some kind of moral at the end of them. A bad action takes place and terrible consequences ensue, but eventually all is saved by an ultimate act of redemption that regains her lost 'innocence'. Laura is forgiven and finds the right path again, changing for the better. you could say the moral here is it is never too late to redeem yourself or that there 'no friend like a sister' as the last line preaches.
   Though I am not entirely convinced the elements of an erotic nature are a big part of the poem, I cannot deny that they are present. For instance, the phrase 'unpecked cherries' can be hinting at virginity and the selling of the 'golden curl' for fruits could be symbolic of prostitution. Laura describes the fruits as such that she had 'never tasted before' -perhaps like losing her virginity. Another prominent example that certain members of the class were fascinated by, was the sexual innuendo presented by the lines 'she sucked and sucked and sucked', referring to Laura as she sucked the fruit globes.

Interpretations-Marxism

  The content of Goblin Market can be interpreted in a number of ways. Five categories they could be put into are erotic, feministic, Marxist, moral and redemption. The one I least understood is the one I had to take a look at in class: Marxist. It was explained to me that this term has much to do with money, commerce and consumerism. Not until really I focused on the poem, did I find anything worth mentioning.
  I noticed that the goblins were calling out, tempting the girls like businessmen. Also like businessmen they seemed deceptive, it is mentioned they were "Signalling each other/ Brother with sly brother" and we see them take what they want from Laura and disappear from her life. Their voices are inviting but appearance is grotesque and true to their nature. They don't want money as they refuse Lizzie's, they want more than that. They ask Laura for her hair, a part of herself, in exchange for the fruits. They want to give people a taste for their product to keep them coming back for more -get them hooked.
  Another similarity between the goblins and businessmen is the way they force their wares on Lizzie -it says "Held her hands and squeezed their fruits/ Against her mouth to make her eat". There are plenty more parts of the poem where we see evidence of hidden Marxism, but these are prominent examples.  

Christina Rosetti -a 19th century poetess

  Christina Rosetti was a poet of Italian descent in the nineteenth century. Her father was also a poet. She had two brothers and one sister -two of her siblings also became writers and the other an artist. From the age of fourteen, when she suffered a nervous breakdown, she started to have bouts of depression. It was after this that she, her mother and her sister became interested in the Anglo-Catholic Movement. Rosetti turned deeply religious and refused two of her suitors due to religious reasons.
  Her first poem was published at the age of eighteen and Goblin Market at thirty-one. Goblin Market received widespread praise and established Rosetti as the main female poet of the time.
  Rossetti was a volunteer worker from 1859 to 1870 at the St. Mary Magdalene "house of charity" in Highgate, a refuge for former prostitutes and it is suggested Goblin Market may have been inspired by the "fallen women" she came to know. She was ambivalent about women's suffrage, but many scholars have identified feminist themes in her poetry. She was opposed to slavery (in the American South), cruelty to animals (in the prevalent practice of animal experimentation), and the exploitation of girls in under-age prostitution. 
   Feminists held her as symbol of constrained female genius, placed as a leader of 19th century poets. Her work strongly influenced the work of such writers as Ford Madox Ford, Virginia Woolf, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Elizabeth Jennings, and Philip Larkin. Critic Basil de Selincourt stated that she was "all but our greatest woman poet … incomparably our greatest craftswoman … probably in the first twelve of the masters of English verse". Rossetti is honoured with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on April 27.

Rosetti and Goblin Market

  On taking a closer look at the first 140 lines of the poem, I could see more religious themes coming out along with elements of innocence and temptation. Laura's golden hair seems like her innocence or her soul -a part of her she has to lose to pay the price for giving in to temptation. The goblins are represented by quite grotesque imagery and are all men. They are said to be sly, making us suspicious of them but their voices are kind and "honey-toned". The list of fruits in the first part seems to me like a list of temptations on offer that will eventually lead to sins. Though Laura was the first to caution her sister, she was also the first to succumb to temptation. Once she has consumed the fruit, Laura is addicted and the reader can clearly see that it isn't going to end well.

The "Destination"

  Although the title seems to infer some sort of horror movie, the subject of this blog could not be further from this. In the last lesson I had, I was told that the "destination" of a book was the direction of its story and ending. The book we looked into for an example was the brilliant, famous "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen, a book we are going to cover in our AS literature course and one I read every year at Christmas.
  Reading the first chapter, we had to use its structure and content to tell us where the book appeared to be heading, what it implied the story would be about. Most people who are opting to do English Literature should already know what this classic is about and how it ends (in my opinion everyone should, but its their loss). We had to base our theory on its destination solely on the first chapter, not our own knowledge.
  From the first chapter, we could tell the book was going to be largely to do with marriage. The opening line itself is well-known and talks about how it is "a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife". The first line in any book is important and this one clearly shows that it will have much to do with men, fortune and wives.
  An interesting thing about the chapter is its lack of setting or description. The characters who are coversing are not described until the lat paragraph. This seems to bring the conversation itself into more focus, quite on purpose, so we know that the subject of the conversation is important to the story -more so than the setting in which the conversation is taking place. And what is this oh-so-important conversation about you ask? Marriage (who would've thought it!) and a single man who has just moved into the vicinity. This hints at the possibility that we will see this man married. "Lizzie" is mentioned fondly -which leads us also to think of Lizzie as a potentially significant character and that perhaps we may see her married too.
  The very last sentence is leaves a lasting impression on the reader. It says that "the business of her life [Mrs Bennet's] was to get her daughters married". This could convey the implication that the business of this book is to show them getting married. In this way, the first chapter makes it quite clear what its destination is.

   As homework, I was told to read a (very, very) long poem called "Goblin Market" by Christina Rosetti. It took me a little longer than I expected it would and since I have only read it through once i have got much from it. Having a sister myself, I liked the close sisters dynamic it had to it and the sort of folktale it seemed to relate to the reader. Before reading the poem, I did some background research on Rosetti and learned that she was deeply religious -she even refused two suitors due to religious reasons.
  So when I read the poem, it struck me that there could have been a religious theme to it. She mentions the goblin's giving Laura the "forbidden fruit" like the apple in the Bible story of Adam and Eve. The goblins seem to be a parallel for the devil too. When Laura eats the fruits that they tempt her with -like the devil tempting her with sins- she seems to sign her soul over to them, growing gradually closer to her death. This is the only insight into the poem I get for now.

 

My first literature blog

A literature question that was asked in my very first class.
"Mr Francis entered the room. There was a piece of paper on the floor."
-Why is the inclusion of the detail of the paper on the floor important?

  The fact that the author has seen fit to include this detail is what makes it significant. An author doesn't provide information that doesn't need to be remembered or considered, because there is simply no point in jabbering on about details that don't mean anything to the story. The paper on the floor immediately attracts the audience's attention because it is important enough to have been mentioned.

  The paper itself being on the floor could be important for a number of reasons. For example, it could signify the condition of the room -perhaps the room is a mess. Or maybe the paper is there to be picked up -perhaps it contains information relevant to the rest of the story. It could even be a distraction; so when Mr Francis picks up the paper, he fails to notice the hidden person about to ambush him. The possibilities are endless.