On The Characteristics Of Christina Rossetti’s And Pre-raphaelite Poetry

Duirng the20s and30s of the19th century, revolutions armed with Romanticismoccurred to object to the rules of Neoclassicism in France. The academic debatebetween these two factions contributed to the birth of the “Pre-RaphaeliteBrotherhood" directly.From the semi-late Victoiran Era，Britain was in an era of prospeirty. Contrairlybehind the prospeirty academic art is characteirzed by deep superifciality and vanity.The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood made a profound contirbution to the revolution ofBirtish art and literature. The movement is a combination of Romanticism, Naturalismand Aestheticism and the Pre-Raphaelites influence can be seen in paintings，architecture, furniture, cratfs and especially literature of the peirod.Pre-Raphaelite poetry was the main beneficiary of its literary achievements andhas for many years been the medium to which some scholars gravitated whenexploirng the movement. In this thesis, we focus on Goblin Market and OtherPoems wirtten by Chirstina Rossetti，acknowledged as "the Queen of thePre-Raphaelit’，e. By illustrating its subjects, methods of composition and language,this thesis demonstrates the characteristics of Pre-Raphaelite poetry especiallyRomanticism and Aestheticism in order to reveal the transition from Romanticism toAestheticism in Birtish literature.In the ifrst section we birefly introduce the Pre-Raphaelite, Chirstina Rossetti andher literary achievements, the inlfuence of Goblin Market and Other Poems, and thestructure of this thesis.The second part is a literature review in which we collect previous studies onChirstina Rossetti in both at home and abroad.The third chapter examines Pre-Raphaelite poetry in detail in terms of both itsbackground information and deliberation. When introducing the backgroundinformation of Pre-Raphaelite poetry, we mainly investigate the prolongation from artto poetry and the connection between Christina Rossetti and Pre-Raphaelite poetry. As for the deliberation of Pre-Raphaelite poetry, we pay much attention to three elements:ifrstly, the complex nature of early Pre-Raphaelite poetry, namely "Truth to Nature";secondly the aesthetic Pre-Raphaelitism itself and its impact on Rossetti’s literaryworks and thirdly the subject analysis of Pre-Raphaelite poetry.Chapter four is the main section of this thesis. With the help of text analysis anddocument analysis, we make an explicit analysis of theme category, methods ofcomposition and language of Rossetti’s Goblin Market and Other Poems. In terms ofthe theme category, we find that Chirstina Rossetti as well as the Pre-Raphaelitesprefers subjectivity, Truth to Nature and tragic love，which are both romantic andaesthetic. The rhetorical device and lack of meter and rhyme differentiates thePre-Raphaelite poetry from the previous Classic poetry with its inclination toRomanticism and Aestheticism. In addition, its romantic and aesthetic language isfulfilled with simplicity, spontaneity, metaphoircity and symbolism.The final part is the conclusion: this chapter reiterates the essentiality of thePre-Raphaelite and Chirstina Rossetti’s fundamentality. It aims to review the results ofthe analytical results, the research signiifcance and suggests further research.