The Spiritual Odyssey

Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830—1894), a member of Pre-RaphaeliteBrotherhood, is an outstanding poet in Victorian Age. She is not only one of the mosttalented women poets in English literature, but also a spiritual poet with legendaryand mysterious life experience. However, she is not appreciated within China asmuch as she deserves. The reason is that she leads an isolated and lonely life, which isenigmatic to others; on the other hand, people prefer to translate and appreciatesuperficially some of her poems, rather than criticize them, for they are so sensitiveand unpolished. The theories that overseas critics apply to studying Christina areabundant. Yet few papers penetrate the complicated ambivalence of her poetrythoroughly and profoundly. Besides, most critics consider that her works lackintellectual depth and complexity. However, this thesis holds a different view,exploring the profound meanings hidden in Rossetti's poetry, which uncovers itsambivalence endowed with literary tensions and reflects Christina's struggle andexploration between spirit and worldliness.It's necessary to know the whole life of the poet for the purpose of understandingthe ambivalence of her poetry. First of all, this paper, from the sociologicalperspective, argues that the unique life experience endows Christina with unusualmelancholy and sensitive personality. It may be said that the impressive ambivalencehidden in Rossetti's works is the reflection of her persona, life and society. Theinfluence of various factors including her familial decay, religious belief, ill-health,the image of Victorian women and the artistic style of Pre-Raphaelite makes Rossetticultivate the quiet, solitary persona. She is especially fond of dwelling apart in aworld of her own, involved in thinking. It's in contemplation that Rossetti grasps theartistic beauty with her unique feminine sensitivity. Rossetti, with her whole heart,feels the truth of life: the conflict of birth and death, the paradox of hopefulness andhopelessness, the collision of reality and fantasy. The eminent woman writer VirginiaWoolf in the twentieth century holds that Christina Rossetti tops the English women poets and she compares her poetry to the songs by the mockingbird and nightingale.Rossetti's poems are the fabulous embodiment of the brightness of mockingbird andthe sadness of nightingale, reflecting the contradiction of both positive and negativeaspects.Then the paper turns to Rossetti's poetry including devotional and secular poemsto describe the abundant images by employing the principles of Imagism. Meanwhile,it applies the method of the "close reading" of New Criticism to penetrating theambivalence and tensions exposed in Rossetti's poetry. Christina's poems of differentsubjects reflect the sort of ambivalence between spirit and worldliness. In herdevotional poetry, Christina seeks the comfort from religious belief, but on the otherhand, she always encounters the temptation of earthly life. The inner conflict betweentemptation and transgression, tradition and disobedience is exposed in Goblin Market;the ambivalence between pilgrimage and postponement is reflected in The Prince'sProgress. In Rossetti's secular poetry, she praises life, yet longs for death; she depictsthe underlying threat behind the calm and serene surface of nature; she also faces thedilemma of the contradiction between earthly love and heavenly love. Christina playsthe melancholy, sentimental music by her talent for poetry and sensitive soul for life.Tension is one of the most crucial criteria to judge an elegant poem. All thecontradictions and paradoxes are exposed in Rossetti's poetry colorfully and vividly,strengthening the force and depth of her poetry and showing the beauty of literarytension. Christina Rossetti's poetry is filled with various heart-touching tensions. Herworks often generate surprising powerful inner tensions below the surface of theprosaic language and succinct form. The surface calm of Rossetti's lyrics and thecontrol and grace of her style are imposed on an underlying vision which is full ofalienation, complexity, uncertainty and ambiguity, which is the best interpretation ofliterary tension.This paper logically discusses the ambivalence in Christina's poetry,finds out its causes, presents the concrete embodiments and finally illustrates thebeauty of her poetry's tension, offering readers further understanding of Rossetti'spoetry. Overall, this thesis reflects Christina's struggle and ambivalence between spiritand worldliness, mainly illustrating her profound contemplation on love, religion,nature and other aspects of life. The poet commits herself to contemplating thesignificance of life and tasting its truth. And the present paper penetrates her endlessexploration and pursuit for life spiritually, which can be regarded as the odyssey ofspirit.