An Ecofeminist Study Of Christina Rossetti’s Early Poetry

Christina Rossetti,one of the most prominent poetess in Victorian era,made a great impact on English literature.She was outstanding among the contemporary poets for her distinctive writing style,vivid imagery,and profound ideas.By analyzing the unique connection between women and nature in Rossetti’s poems,this paper aims to reveal Rossetti’s ecological consciousness and feminine concern,which are reproduced in her works,and thus prove that these poems are also outstanding classic texts of ecofeminism.Nature is a prominent topic in the poetry of Rossetti.In her poetry,she gives animals and plants voices and consciousness to examine the value and rights of non-human existence.In addition,Rossetti’s poetry focuses on the spiritual life of contemporary individuals,particularly the inner world of women.She has seen the linkages between women and nature and discovered parallels between ecologism and feminism that exist between nature and women.Based on ecological feminism,this thesis has closely read and analyzed Rossetti’s first poetry collection officially published in her early years and one long poem,hoping to analyze the ecological feminism thoughts contained therein.Firstly,this thesis gives an overview of Rossetti-related studies and the framework of ecofeminist criticism.Secondly,this paper delves into where her ecofeminism came from by putting together her personal experience with the Pre-Raphaelites,her religious identity as a devout person,and her own feminist awakening.Thirdly,it probes how Rossetti’s poetry uses images of nature to show an ecological awareness of equality between humans and other living things.It also argues about how nature and women are similar.Finally,it delves into the relationship between women and nature from an ecofeminist point of view and shows how Rossetti’s poems show the dominance of patriarchy over women,women’s self-awareness and rebellion,and the relationship between women and nature.All of them work together to challenge traditional hierarchies and patriarchies and give her ecofeminist philosophy a kind of consensus.A reading of Rossetti’s poetry using ecofeminist theory reveals that the author uncovered the destruction of the natural environment by Victorian industrial development and the oppression of women by a patriarchal society.The concern for nature and the care for women in the poem highlight Rossetti’s eco-feminist consciousness and inspire humans to value the connection between human beings and nature and to form a harmonious relationship.