Chrisina Rossetti collection

Question 1

Two quotes from ‘No, Thank You, John’ about friendship

CR

Answer 1

“Here’s friendship for you if you like; but love,- / No, Thank You, John.”

“strike hands as hearty friends”

Question 2

Why does the man in Twice refuse Christina Rossetti?

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Answer 2

Because she is “still unripe”

Question 3

Christina wants John to remain friends without keeping…

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Answer 3

“in veiw ulterior motives”

Question 4

What does Christina Rossetti wish for in From The Antique?

CR

Answer 4

“I wish and I wish I were a man”

Question 5

What does this quote mean?
“It’s a weary life, it is, she said:
Doubly blank, in a woman’s lot:”

CR

Answer 5

Life is really bad, but a woman’s life is twice as bad as a mans life.

Question 6

A quote from Goblin Market that suggests women selling themselves.

Answer 6

“She clipp’d a precious lock”

Question 7

Finish the quote:

“It’s a weary life, it is, she said: …”

CR

Answer 7

“It’s a weary life, it is, she said:
Doubly blank, in a woman’s lot:”

From the antique

Question 8

Quote that shows Laura and Lizzie as ‘Angels in the house’

CR

Answer 8

“Fetch’d in honey, milk’d the cows”

Question 9

A quote that shows the girls eventually succumb to social norms as ‘the angel in the house’. Lizzie has saved Laura from becoming a ‘fallen woman’

CR

Answer 9

“Afterwards, when both were wives…”

Question 10

What does this quote show and what poem is it from? “Talked as honest maidens should”

Answer 10

Shows them as recovering from the fallen women and becoming angels in the house

Question 11

Give some AO3 on fallen women and Christina Rossetti

Answer 11

At the time Rossetti was working in a penitentiary for fallen woman and she was trying to get the age of sexual consent raised to 16

Highgate penitentiary

Question 12

Winter My Secret AO3

Answer 12

AO3

• Victorian women were unable to express themselves so they had to wrap up and keep themselves hidden from society

Question 13

AO3 for ‘No, Thank You, John’

Answer 13

• Rossetti turned away 2 marriage proposals due to her difference with religious view.

Question 14

AO3 for Shut Out

Answer 14

AO3
- Was taken out of Rosetti’s devotional book on Rosetti’s (Strict Anglo Catholic) interpretation of the Genesis story and how God shut mankind out of the garden of Eden due to the actions of Eve

Question 15

What is the Twice about?

Answer 15

In Twice Rossetti gets brutally turned down by a “critical” man who decides that she is “still unripe”.
Because of her hearbreak caused by this man, she turns to God and decides that because he is the only one that “hast seen” he may be the “judge” of her. “yea, judge me now”.
In the end she gives herself to God.

Question 16

List two important quotes from Twice

Answer 16

1. “With a critical eye you scanned, / Then set it down, / And said: It is still unripe,”
2. “Now let Thy judgemnt stand, – / Yea, judge me now.”

Question 17

What is the poem ‘From the antique’ about?

Answer 17

In from the antique Christana Rossetti feels “it’s a weary life” and “doubly blank in a womans lot” and she emphasises how she “I wish and I wish I were a man”. Before saying “Or, better then being any, were not”.
She considers how the world would be without her “still the world would wag on the same”. and that “none would miss me in all the world” not even “care or weep”.

Question 18

4 important quotes from ‘From The Antique’

Answer 18

1. “It’s a weary life”
2. “Doubly blank in a woman’s lot”
3. “I wish and I wish I were a man: / Or, better then any being, were not”
4. “None would miss me“

Question 19

What is the poem Shut Out about?

Include a little context

Answer 19

• “Shut Out” expresses deep emotions and reflects the frustration of a woman barred from social reforms.
• Written in response to women’s exclusion from progressive movements, the poem is influenced by Rossetti’s personal experiences and encounters with female prisoners.
• Despite being raised in a politically active household, where her father valued individual freedom, Rossetti felt excluded from active political roles due to societal norms.
• Her poetry often warns against the consequences of excluding women from reform movements, emphasizing feelings of alienation and marginalization.

Question 20

Give two quotes from Shut Out

Answer 20

1. “The door was shut. I looked between / It’s iron bars”
2. “I sit here quite alone”

Question 21

What is the poem Remember about?

Answer 21

In “Remember” the speaker, facing death, asks their loved one to remember them and also encourages them to move on and find happiness.

Question 22

Give 3 quotes from Remember

Answer 22

1. “Remember me when I am gone away”
2. “Gone far away into the silent land”
3. “By far better you should forget and smile”

Question 23

Give some AO3 on Maude Clare

Answer 23

• Explores Victorian femininity and societal challenges faced by women in the 19th century. It challenges societal norms.
• The poem’s ambiguity reflects the complex realities faced by women of the era, highlighting the tension between societal expectations and individual agency.

Question 24

From what perspective is the poem Maude Clare written from

Answer 24

3rd person narration

Question 25

What is the plot of Maude Clare?

Answer 25

• Sir Thomas and Nell get married.
• Maude Clare “like a queen” contrasting with Nell who “was like a village maid”.
• Sir Thomas kisses his bride while looking at Maude Clare.
• Maude Clare brings gifts “to bless the marriage-bed” and talks about the time they went “with feet amongst the lily leaves”. She wishes them well
• Sir Thomas stutters and can’t speak to Maude Clare.
• Maude Clare reminds Nell of her past relationship with Sir Thomas telling her “I wash my hands thereof”
• Nell tells Maude Clare he’s her husband “for better and worse” because “him I love”.
• Nell tells her that even though Maude Clare’s better than her, she will “love him till he loves me best”.

Question 26

Important quotes from Maude Clare

Answer 26

“His bride was like a village maid, / Maude Clare was like a queen”
“waded ankle deep”
“I’ll love him til he loves me best,”

Question 27

Important quotes from Good Friday

Answer 27

• “Am I a stone, and not a sheep,”
• “and yet not weep”
• “The thief was moved”

Question 28

What is the poem Good Friday about?

Answer 28

Chrisina Rossetti questions her faith after not sheddinga tear thinkiing about the cricifiction of christ.

Question 29

What is the poem Up-Hill about?

Answer 29

Up-Hill compares life to a “journey” and death to a “resting place” after that jouney. A speaker asks God what will happen.
It describes life as a hard journey. And death as being inevitable “You cannot miss that inn”
“Of your labour you shall find the sum” - you’ll get rewarded for your hard life afterwards.
There are beds “for all who come”

Question 30

What is the structure of Up-Hill?

Answer 30

Question / answer dialogue.

Question 31

Give three quotes from Up-Hill

Answer 31

• “Does the road wind up-hill all the way”
• “Beds for all who come.”
• “You cannot miss that inn”
• “They will not keep you standing at that door.”

Question 32

What is the poem ‘When I am Dead, My Dearest” about”

Answer 32

The speaker tells her love he can either remember her or not, it’s up to him what he decides to do. She admits she doesn’t know what the afterlife is like, or if she’ll remember.

“And if thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.”

Question 33

AO3 for When I am Dead, My Dearest

Answer 33

She wrote it when she was a teenager.
The poem is also known as Song

Question 34

What did Rossetti suffer at 14?

Answer 34

A nervous breakdown that resulted in her having depression for the rest of her life

Question 35

Give two quotes from “When I am Dead, My Dearest”

Answer 35

“When I am dead, my dearest,
Sing no sad songs for me;”
“If thou wilt, remember,
And if thou wilt, forget.”

Question 36

What did George P. Landow say about When I am Dead, My Dearest”

Answer 36

George P. Landow said that the first two lines are an apparent “stereotypical view of female selflessness”

Question 37

What is the poem Soeur de la Miseridorde about

Answer 37

“Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde” is a poem narrated by Sister Louise, a 17th-century Frenchwoman who was once a mistress of King Louis XIV but later entered a convent.
In the poem, Sister Louise reflects on the time she spent pursuing love and desire, ultimately realizing that these pursuits have brought her only heartache and regret.
Although she still struggles with longing and love, she believes these emotions are ultimately futile and lead to suffering. The poem suggests that love only results in broken hearts and ruined lives, offering little reward in return.

Question 38

What Christina Rossetti poems have themes of desire in?

Answer 38

Goblin Market, From the Antique and Soeur de la Misericorde

Question 39

3 quotes from Soeur de la Misericorde

Answer 39

“I have desired and I have been desired” - I have wanted thers and others have wanted me
“oh vanity’s of vanity desire” - desire is the most pointless of all things
“dying embers mock my fire” - all the passion she had for the king is gone and all that remains in the tiniest glow that mocks how she used to feel.

Question 40

AO3 for Soeur de la Misericorde

Answer 40

“Soeur Louise de la Miséricorde” (French for “Sister Louise of Mercy”) alludes to a 17th-century French woman, Louise de La Vallière, who spent 13 years in King Louis XIV’s court as one of his mistresses. She loved the king and was heartbroken and humiliated when he turned his attention to another woman. She eventually left for a convent where she became “Soeur Louise.” This poem takes place in the aftermath of her relationship with the king.

Question 41

What is the poem Birthday about

Answer 41

“A Birthday” by Christina Rossetti celebrates the ecstatic happiness of love.
The speaker metaphorically describes the arrival of their love as a rebirth, comparing their joyful heart to a singing bird, a fruitful tree, and a colorful shell on a peaceful sea.
They express a desire to honor this love with a grand platform, possibly symbolizing devotion to God.
While the poem can be interpreted romantically, it also reflects Rossetti’s religious themes.

Question 42

Give three important quotes from A Birthday

Answer 42

“My heart I like a singing bird”
“Becuase my love has come to me”
“whose boughs are bent with thickest fruit;”

Question 43

3 quotes from Winter My Secret

Answer 43

“Only my secrets mine and i won’t tell”
“A veil, a cloak and other wraps”
“a bitting day”

Question 44

What is the poem Winter My Secret about

Answer 44

“Winter: My Secret” is Christina Rossetti’s strange, teasing, playful tale of the power of mystery. The poem’s speaker tantalizes her listener with the idea that she’s got a big secret, one she’ll never tell. The more she insists that she wants her privacy, the more fascinated her listener gets. This, the poem hints, is precisely what the speaker is hoping for.

Question 45

What is In The Round Tower at Jhansi, June 8, 1857 about

Answer 45

The poem narrates the last moments of Captain Alexander Skene (a British officer based in Jhansi, India) and his wife, Margaret, as they face a stark choice: wait for rebel Indian soldiers to break into their hideout, or kill themselves before the soldiers do.
Choosing the latter course, the pair exchange a few last words and kisses, sustained by the power of their love. Though the poem is based on real events, it’s not historically accurate; the rebels killed Skene, his wife.

Question 46

3 important quotes from In The Round Tower at Jhansi, June 8, 1857

Answer 46

• “The swarming, howling wretches below / Gained and gained and gained”
• ”Skene looked at his pale young wife”
• ”I wish I could bear the pang alone”

Question 47

What is the poem Echo about?

Answer 47

The speaker of Christina Rossetti’s “Echo” begs their departed lover to visit them in dreams, where they can see their lover’s face again and relive all their past happiness. But while dreaming about this person gives the speaker much-needed relief from the pain of loss, their insistence on living in dreams and memories causes them to feel like an “Echo”—as if they don’t really exist in the present at all.

Question 48

important quote Echo

Answer 48

- “Come to me in the silence of the night”
- “O dream how sweet, too sweet, bitter sweet”

Question 49

AO3 for Goblin Market

Answer 49

• Possibly written as a children’s story and this was how it was first percieved, however, it has connotations of rape.
• At the time Rossetti was working in a penitentiary for fallen woman and she was trying to get the age of sexual consent raised to 16

Question 50

3 important quotes from Goblin Market

Answer 50

• “plump unpicked cheries”
• “come buy, come buy”
• “eat me, drink me, love me”

Question 51

sumarise Goblin Market

Answer 51

In “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti, two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, encounter goblin men selling enticing fruits. Despite warnings, Laura succumbs to temptation and eats the fruit, which causes her to become listless and aged. Concerned for her sister’s well-being, Lizzie bravely confronts the goblins to obtain the fruit’s juice to save Laura. Despite the goblins’ violent attempts to make her eat the fruit, Lizzie remains steadfast. She brings the juice back to Laura, who, upon tasting it, is restored to her youth.