Rossetti: Context Flashcards
Why did Augusta Webster write to Rossetti in the late 1870’s?
To ask for her support in a campaign to give women the right to vote. Rossetti declined.
This means she is contradictory.
She said: “Does it not appear as if the Bible was based upon an understood unalterable distinction between men and women?”
What was the literacy status of women in Victorian times?
Many women could still not read, so worked in the home as either servants, mothers or housewives.
When were women over 30 able to vote?
1918
What does the bible and Rossetti have in common?
They both contradict eachother.
Rossetti: NTYJ vs. Augusta Webster rejection
Bible: ‘Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord’. Vs Eve
A symbol of Rossetti’s religious mania and coordination to God.
How did the contemporary society view Rossetti?
As a threat
Why did the contemporary society view Rossetti as a threat?
Societal gender roles at the time. If a woman did not fit the prescribed pattern of a girl-like, innocent angel- she was often viewed a dangerous threat.
Additionally, it was looked down upon for women to write about death, was viewed as a topic out of their reach.
Rossetti’s voluntary work
During 1860, she volunteered for the ‘fallen women’ at the St. Mary Magdalene House.
In what way was Rossetti’s assistance in redeeming these ‘fallen women’ justified (In a Religious Sense)
According to Christian principles of forgiveness, these women deserve the chance to be redeemed as Jesus emphasised this importance.
Rossetti’s religious change
Anglican to Trachtarian
Why was Rossetti drawn to Tractarianism?
Oxford Movement
Lost faith in the church/government’s involvement.
What was the Oxford Movement?
An influential group of people, seeking to revitalize the church, drawing attention to the importance of the Bible.
What was the Tractarianism view on the Church?
Wanted the CofE to be more like the Roman Catholic Church, felt like there were religious issues corrupting Victorian Society
Rossetti would have agreed with this, helping ‘fallen women’ who lost their virginity before marriage.
Define ‘Soul Sleep’
The body dies, the soul remains in a state of unconsciousness.
Waiting for Jesus to be resurrected
Death is one step closer to God, religious mania
‘Silent land’, ‘twilight’ (WIADMD)
Define Romanticism
Ability to express emotion
Promotion of emphasis of inspiration
Artistic, literacy, musical and intellectual movement
Originated in Europe towards the end of 18th century
Stressed strong emotion as a source of the aesthetic experience
Who were the Pre-Raphelites?
Collection of Victorian poets, artists, painters, illustrators and designers with similar beliefs about art.
Rossetti and her brother (Dante) involved
What did the Pre-Raphelites cherish about the art they created?
1.) ‘Art for Art Sake’ (LINK TO WILDE)
Art shouldn’t be influenced by politics, science or morality, but an expression of whatever is wished to be.
2.) Aestheticism
Championed pure beauty and ‘art for art’s sake’ emphasising the visual and sensual qualities of art and design over practical, moral or narrative considerations.
Define ‘Art for Art Sake’
Art shouldn’t be influenced by politics, science or morality, but an expression of whatever is wished to be.
Define ‘Aestheticism’
Championed pure beauty and ‘art for art’s sake’ emphasising the visual and sensual qualities of art and design over practical, moral or narrative considerations.
When was the Pre-Raphelites founded?
1848
What is a general term for the Pre-Raphelites?
A brotherhood
Name a founder of the Pre-Raphelites
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Rossetti’s brother)
What was Rossetti’s relationship with the Pre-Raphelites?
She was never a formal member. Dante often referred to her as a ‘double sisterhood’.
She published poems on behalf of the group
More of an observer rather than a participant
What was the Victorian’s opinion on Aestheticism?
Was criticised by society
How does Rossetti relate to her characters?
A new woman, just like her characters.
Rossetti’s marriage status
Never married.
Rejected multiple marriages for religious reasons for religious reasons: a poet for him being agnostic
Define agnostic
A person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God.
Define Fin de Siecle
End of the century
Reacted against traditional ideas
Male writers
How is her religious mania shown in the pattern of her poetry?
Each poem in general contradicts eachother which suggests her religious mania and contrasting views on religion and life (females).
What was the ‘The Madwoman in the Attic’, and what did it suggest?
In their 1979 feminist study of nineteenth century women’s literature, The Madwoman in the Attic, Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gilbar recognise the factors that prevented a Victorian woman from standing on equal terms to their male contemporaries.
They suggest that Rossetti is among the “singers of renunciation” of her time and argue that she willingly accepts the state of destitution into which she is cast.
They emphasise how the culture of patriarchy curbed her passions and meant that she was not the powerful female role model that she had the potential to become.
