Discuss The Ways In Which 'Goblin Market' Introduces Us To Christina Rossetti's Concerns And Style. You Should Comment Briefly On Contextual Issues Wherever Appropriate.

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Candice White

Discuss The Ways In Which ‘Goblin Market’ Introduces Us To Christina Rossetti’s Concerns And Style. You Should Comment Briefly On Contextual Issues Wherever Appropriate.

        There are many themes presented in ‘Goblin Market,’ from the rather trite ideas of don’t succumb to temptation and little girls shouldn’t talk to strange men to the more controversial and indelicate themes of homosexuality, incest, drug addiction and the pain of rejected sexual desire. Rossetti presents the themes in an extremely effective, unusual manner and the style she uses aids in the expression of these themes.  

        The thematic core of the poem is indisputably temptation and from the beginning of the poem Lizzie expresses how,

        ‘You should not peep at Goblin men.’

This statement is the trigger that provokes Laura’s overwhelming temptation to see the goblins and experience their ‘orchard fruits.’ Lizzie’s warnings along with the refrain featured in the poem of ‘come buy,’ prove to be too much for Laura to resist. The style Rossetti uses when describing the fruits the goblins have to offer further emphasises the temptation felt by Laura. The more common formal structure of Rossetti’s verse is replaced with a much less formal one, in which the goblin’s hobbling, laughing energy is mirrored in the tumbling irregular metre. Furthermore, the way in which she lists the variety of fruits the goblins have to offer further emphasises their appeal to Laura. As the reader is bombarded with the paratactic piling up of noun on noun, they are hastened along with Laura, towards the succulent temptations offered by the goblin men. The moral of the poem is ultimately that temptation is bad and should be resisted. This is illustrated by the drastic effects that giving into temptation had on Laura:

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        ‘Her hair grew thin and grey;

        She dwindled, as the fair full moon doth turn

        To swift decay and burn

        Her fire away.’

However, it is interesting to see that when Laura initially gives into temptation, Rossetti doesn’t portray her as being weak or in the wrong, instead she states that:

        ‘Laura stretched her gleaming neck

        Like a rush-imbedded swan,

        Like a lily from the beck,

        Like a moonlit poplar branch,

        Like a vessel at the launch

        When its last restraint is gone.’

The imagery used here is of a positive nature and by referring to Laura with these positive ...

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