Christina Rossetti facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Christina Rossetti
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| Born | Christina Georgina Rossetti 5 December 1830 London, England |
| Died | 29 December 1894 (aged 64) London, England |
| Occupation | Poet |
| Literary movement | Pre-Raphaelite |
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Christina Georgina Rossetti (born December 5, 1830 – died December 29, 1894) was an English writer. She wrote many different kinds of poems. These included romantic poems, religious poems, and poems for children.
Some of her most famous poems are "Goblin Market" and "Remember". She also wrote the words for two well-known Christmas songs. These are "In the Bleak Midwinter" and "Love Came Down at Christmas". Christina was the sister of the famous artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti. She even appeared in some of his paintings.
Early Life and Education
Christina Rossetti was born in London, England. Her father, Gabriele Rossetti, was a poet from Italy. He had moved to London in 1824. Her mother, Frances Polidori, was the sister of Lord Byron's doctor, John William Polidori.
Christina had two brothers and one sister. Her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti became a very important artist and poet. Her brother William Michael Rossetti and her sister Maria Francesca Rossetti also became writers. Christina was the youngest child. She was very lively and dictated her first story to her mother before she could even write.
Christina was taught at home by her parents. She learned about religious works, classic stories, fairy tales, and novels. She loved reading books by writers like John Keats and Walter Scott. Her home was full of the influence of Italian writers like Dante Alighieri. This greatly shaped her own writing later on.
Their home was always open to Italian scholars, artists, and people who wanted change. Christina enjoyed living in London. She often visited places like Madame Tussauds and Regent's Park.
In the 1840s, Christina's family faced money problems. Her father became very unwell both physically and mentally. He was diagnosed with a serious illness in 1843. He had to stop teaching at King's College.
To help the family, Christina's mother started teaching. Her sister Maria became a live-in governess. Christina did not want to do this kind of work. When she was 14, she became very unwell and left school. She had periods of feeling very sad and unwell after this.
During this time, Christina, her mother, and her sister became very involved in a religious movement. This was called the Anglo-Catholic movement within the Church of England. Being religious became a very important part of Christina's life.
When she was a teenager, Christina was engaged to a painter named James Collinson. He was one of the first members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. This was a group of artists who wanted to change art. Their engagement ended in 1850 because he returned to the Catholic faith.
Later, she was interested in a linguist named Charles Cayley. But she chose not to marry him, also for religious reasons. She also turned down a marriage proposal from the painter John Brett.
Christina posed for some of her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti's paintings. In 1848, she was the model for the Virgin Mary in his painting The Girlhood of Mary Virgin. The next year, she posed for his painting of the Annunciation, Ecce Ancilla Domini.
Career
Christina started writing down and dating her poems in 1842. At first, she copied the styles of her favorite poets. By 1847, she began trying out different poem styles. These included sonnets, hymns, and ballads. She often wrote stories from the Bible, folk tales, and the lives of saints.
Her early poems often talked about death and loss. Her first two poems were published in a magazine called Athenaeum in 1848. She used a pen name, "Ellen Alleyne," in a magazine called The Germ. This magazine was published by the Pre-Raphaelites. This was the start of her public writing career.
Christina also wrote a poem called "In the Artist's Studio" in 1856. In this poem, she thought about how artists often painted the same model many times. She felt that the artist's own ideas about the model could take over the artwork.
Her first book of poems was Goblin Market and Other Poems. It was published in 1862 when she was 31. Critics praised it a lot, saying she was the best female poet of her time. Famous poets like Alfred, Lord Tennyson also admired her work. After this book, people said she was the natural successor to Elizabeth Barrett Browning, another great poet.
From 1859 to 1870, Christina volunteered at a charity house in Highgate. This house helped women in need. She continued to write and publish for the rest of her life. Most of her later works were religious writings and poems for children.
Just before she died, she wrote a religious book called The Face of the Deep (1892). She also helped create a bigger edition of her children's poetry book, Sing-Song, in 1893. Christina was also one of the first women to collect stamps. She started her collection in 1847.
Later Life
In her later years, Christina Rossetti became ill with a condition called Graves' disease. This was diagnosed in 1872. In 1893, she developed breast cancer. The tumor was removed, but the cancer returned in 1894.
Christina Rossetti died on December 29, 1894. She was buried on January 2, 1895, in the family grave at Highgate Cemetery in London. Her father, mother, and her brother Dante Gabriel's wife were also buried there. Her brother William was buried there later.
There is a special stone tablet on the building where she lived her final years. This is at 30 Torrington Square in London.
Recognition
Christina Rossetti was not as famous as Elizabeth Barrett Browning during her lifetime. But her poems remained popular after she died. Her popularity lessened in the early 1900s. However, people later began to study her work more closely.
Scholars in the 1970s saw how skilled she was with words and rhythm. Many people who supported equal rights for women saw her as a symbol of talented women. Her writings influenced many other famous writers. The critic Basil de Sélincourt called her "all but our greatest woman poet." He also said she was "incomparably our greatest craftswoman."
Christina Rossetti's Christmas poem "In the Bleak Midwinter" became very well known. This happened after her death when composers like Gustav Holst set it to music as a Christmas carol. Her poem "Love Came Down at Christmas" (1885) also became a popular carol.
Many British composers used her poems for their music. These included Alexander Mackenzie and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. In 1918, John Ireland set eight poems from her Sing-Song book to music.
In 2000, a special poetry stone was placed in Frome, England. It has lines from her poem "What Good Shall My Life Do Me." Christina had written about her short stay in Frome. She described it as a place with "plenty of peaceful beauty."
In 2011, Christina Rossetti was featured on a Radio 4 program called In Our Time. The title of J. K. Rowling's novel The Cuckoo's Calling (2013) comes from a line in Christina Rossetti's poem A Dirge.
Christina Rossetti is remembered in the Church of England calendar on April 27.
Images for kids
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Grave of Christina Rossetti in Highgate Cemetery (West side)
See also
In Spanish: Christina Rossetti para niños
