Rossetti: Context Flashcards
When did Rossetti live?
1830 - 1894
What themes did her work explore?
- religion / faith
- love and relationships
- death
- sexuality
- gender
- nature
- beauty + time
When did she develop Graves’ disease?
In the 1870s
Her religious views
She was an extremely devout Christian and her love for God was always greater than her love for another human. She had a strong commitment to High Anglicanism.
What movement was Rossetti at the centre of?
She was at the centre of the Pre-Raphaelite movement in the mid-to-late Victorian period. This involved a group of artists, including her brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 - 1882) who sought to modernise art.
Where did Rossetti work, with regards to ‘fallen women’?
Rossetti worked for some time with the Anglican sisterhood at the St. Mary Magdalene Penitentiary in Highgate, which involved helping prostitutes to escape their lives on the streets by retraining them for domestic service.
How many suitors did Rossetti reject?
3
Who were the 3 suitors rejected by Rossetti?
James Collinson, Charles Cayley and John Brett
James Collinson
Rossetti rejected him because he converted to Roman Catholicism and she had a strong commitment to High Anglicanism.
Charles Cayley
Rossetti refused him as a lover, but they became lifelong friends
John Brett
He was a painter who did at least two portraits of Rossetti. She rejected him and he is thought to be the rejected admirer in her poem ‘No, Thank You, John’
The ‘Angel in the House’ idea
This was a popular Victorian image, which taught that women were expected to be devoted and submissive to her husband.
Where does the phrase ‘the Angel in the House’ come from?
The title of a poem by Coventry Patmore, which was originally published in 1854 and revised in 1862.
Coventry Patmore
1823 - 1896, wrote the poem ‘The Angel in the House’, he was associated with the Pre-Raphaelites and one of his acquaintances was Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who was one of Christina Rossetti’s brothers. This could mean that Patmore’s strong, traditional beliefs about a woman’s place have influenced some of Rossetti’s texts.
The idea of ‘fallen women’
The term ‘fallen woman’ was used to describe a woman who ‘lost her innocence’ and had fallen from the grace of God. In the Victorian era, a woman became known as this through losing her virginity before marriage. This idea was often associated with prostitution.
The Pre-Raphaelite movement in art
In art, it refers to the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood, a group of avant-garde painters (associated with the art critic, John Ruskin)
The Pre-Raphaelite movement in literature
It describes the poets who had some connections with these artists and whose work shares some of the characteristics of Pre-Raphaelite art.
Pre-Raphaelite painters’ features
- beauty + simplicity of the Medieval world
- respect for nature
- preference of bright, jewel-like colours that were often used in a symbolic way
Pre-Raphaelite poetry’s features
- emphasis on beautiful, natural, sensuous details
- symbolic meaning associated with common objects or situations
- feelings of nostalgia for a dream-like Medieval world
- use of melodious (musical) language
How did the large amount of illness in her family affect her family life?
Her father suffered a great amount of illness and, as he was the main income earner, this caused severe financial difficulties, meaning her mother began teaching and her sister Maria began working as a live-in governess
How old was Rossetti when she was diagnosed with religious mania?
14
As Rossetti never married, who did she live with?
She remained living with her mother for most of her life
How long did Rossetti suffer from Graves’ disease for?
Nearly 20 years
What was the cause of Rossetti’s death?
Breast cancer
Why did she reject James Collinson and Charles Cayley?
She rejected them both for religious reasons. She broke the engagement off with Collinson, because he became a Catholic and she rejected Cayley, because he couldn’t share her Anglican faith
Soul sleep
Rossetti believed in the doctrine of soul sleep. This is where, after death the soul is in a kind of suspended animation - asleep and not in heaven. When it wakes, it will take its place in heaven.
At what age did Rossetti begin writing poetry?
Around 12
