The Following Critical Writing Is Taken from the Victorian Web

Year 13

Goblin Market

The following critical writing is taken from “The Victorian web” http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/crossetti/newman6.html

Abigail Newman '06, English/History of Art 151 - Brown University, 2004

Exploding with luscious imagery, Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market" basically contains both passages that convey narrative details — but nonetheless include visual information — and passages that vividly create the mood of a scene almost entirely by means of rich visual descriptions. The latter passages represent distinct pauses in the progression of the poem, allowing the reader to rest in a moment and absorb the details that the author describes. These portions provide appealing imagery presented in language that heightens its effect. Thus, as descriptions of objects tempt the mind's eye, similarly alluring language draws the reader in, increasing the momentum of the poem even as the narrative action has halted. After succumbing to the goblin brothers' fruit, Laura describes the pleasures of the forbidden delicacies to her sister Lizzie, who has resisted the temptation.

"Have done with sorrow;

I'll bring you plums to-morrow

Fresh on their mother twigs,

Cherries worth getting;

You cannot think what figs

My teeth have met in,

What melons icy-cold

Piled on a dish of gold

Too huge for me to hold,

What peaches with a velvet nap,

Pellucid grapes without one seed:

Odorous indeed must be the mead

Whereon they grow, and pure the wave they drink

With lilies at the brink,

And sugar-sweet their sap."

Long sentences with an almost staccato rhythm characterize this and other instances of Rossetti's intensely visual passages (for example, lines 5-31). This passage listing enticing fruits gains momentum in several ways. By dividing a single thought between two lines, Rossetti forces the reader to hurry voraciously to the next line. After the words "You cannot think what figs", which build suspense, excitement, and a sense of anticipation, Rossetti waits until the next line to provide the highly physical and literal satisfaction: "My teeth have met in." She employs this same method in lines 180-181. In addition, rhymes provide aural pleasure, entreating the reader to luxuriate in the rhythm and sounds of the poem. Furthermore, Rossetti's this passage and the other visual rest passages rely heavily on an appeal to the senses, containing captivating descriptions of colours, textures, aromas and tastes.

YOUR TASK:

Choose a similar length section of the poem and write a close analysis of the poet’s use of language and structure.