Victorian Context: Christina Rosetti 

Upbringing

• Very close-knit family
• Family = literary and religious
• All went into academia

• Youngest of four siblings
• Strong italien routes
• Father (Gabriel Rosetti) = political exile living in London

• Worked as a professor at King’s College
• Was obsessed with Dante
• Educated by her mother

• Religious education
• Still learns about ballads/fairytales
• Very flamboyant child until puberty → had a disease
• Became more reserved and quiet

Family

• MOTHER – Frances Polidori, Italian/English woman and a devout Christian (Anglican) who served as a shining example to kids
• UNCLE – John Polidori, Dr and writer (wrote the famous gothic story, Vampyre)
• OLDER SIS – Maria Polidori → nun (Anglican church)
• OLDER BROTHER – Dante Polidori → famous pre-raphaelite painter and poet
• Founder of pre-raphaelite brotherhood
• GRANDFATHER – cottage at Holmer Green inspired her attention to the minute in nature that marks her poetry 

Religion

• Devout Anglican but followed some catholic teachings (Anglicans: disliked the pope)
• Religion shaped her life
• Teenager: had nervous breakdown ‘religious mania’
• She was so devout that she suffered in her daily life
• Rosetti and her sister = shared mother’s keen faith

• Wrote famous hymns and carols
• Religion bonded her and her mum
• Religious themes dominate her work
• Often tensions between earthly love and divine love

Pre Raphaelite Brotherhood 

• Trying to show the realism of religion
• Group of English painters and poets (1848)
• Rejected the traditional conventions of art and literature of the time
• Inspired by romanticism → raw emotion
• William M. Rosetti’s four declarations

• Genuine ideas
• Study nature
• Have art as a purpose
• Produce good pieces of art
• Inspired by John Ration’s theories→ urged artists to ‘go to nature’

Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

• Was painted several times by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
• Gabriel wanted her to form the literary side of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

→ she declined not wanting to be on display

• Her writing style is similar to Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood

→ bright, detailed and shows religious devotion

Love 

• Never married

• Engaged twice (at 18 and 36) 1) James Collinson, Charles Bagot Cayley
• Was romantically connected to three men – John Brett (NTYJ)

• Rejected suitors as he was a Roman Catholic → never compromised her faith
• Rejection of husbands = uncommon thing to do in the rigid patriarchal society she lived in

Women’s matters and rights 

• Devoted 10 years of her life as a volunteer at St Mary Magdalene’s penitentiary for prostitutes and unmarried mothers
• Assisted the teaching of school children and involved with child protection campaigns
• But she still signed an anti-suffrage petition

• Some say she didn’t agree with equal rights
• Believed in the patriarchy of the church – she was so devout

• Made a remark that mothers would be great MPs, wanted more female representation in Parliament
• Conflicting views about whether she is a feminist or not
• She states ‘ the highest functions are not in this world open to both sexes’

Death and suffering 

• Plagued by ill health in 1871 → Graves disease

• Progressively destroyed her health and looks
• Made her more reserved, fragile and depressed

• Outlived sister, brother, two suitors and mother
• Died of cancer in 1894
• Had seen great success in her life → work published in Britain and US

Politics 

• Her work was more politically outspoken later 
• Critical of slavery, imperialism, military aggression, committed to anti vivisection movement→ condone animal experimentation
• Also petitioned for legislation to protect children from prostitution and sexual exploitation by raising the age of consent