Christina Rossetti - AO3 Flashcards
Christina and Maria both volunteered at…
St Mary Magdalene penitentiary. It was a ‘house of charity’, a refuge for former prostitute and ‘fallen women’. Many of Rossetti’s poems express distaste for the double standards of the time, particularly regarding sexual morality
Mid nineteenth-century children would have…
watched at least one sibling, if not parent, die. Disease spread rapidly and the child mortality rate was high
Christina’s relationships
She had several relationships which progressed towards engagement. In her late teens, she became engaged to James Collins, a painter with her brother. She broke off the engagement when James became Catholic
Rossetti remained…
single, living with her mother and aunt for most of her life.
Tractarian
Christina was a devout Tractarian, subscribed to the doctrine known as Soul Sleep - a waiting time between the death and the reunion of the soul and body on the Last Day. It was believed that the soul enters a suspended state outside of time and awareness
Disadvantages of women
Rossetti was acutely aware of the disadvantages faced by 19th century women and the pressure society put on women to conform to expected standards. English law withheld any legal status from married women
Fallen Woman
Rossetti was especially concerned with the welfare of women who sought to come out of prostitution. During 1860s, she worked as a volunteer in a home for a woman deemed as ‘fallen’ by Victorian society
Victorian male writers and women
The angelic maid and the wicked temptress. The Angel in the House - the ideal woman is described as a charming and unselfish creature completely dedicated to her husband and children. Child-like and weak, she is seen as pure and in need of male protection, where her proper place is the home
