Priscilla's Bibliography

From English 194 Wiki

1. Damrosch, David, and Kevin J. Dettmar, eds. "Christina Rossetti." The Longman Anthology of British Literature. 3rd ed. New York: Pearson Longman, 2006. 1723-1725.
This brief introduction to Christina Rossetti and her selected poems begins with a quote from a letter she wrote to her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti in which she states, “‘Women are not Men,’ and you must not expect me to possess a tithe of your capacities, though I humbly—or proudly—lay claim to family-likeness’” (1723). This quote is said to explain Rossetti’s “complex nature: her modest yet firm manner” as well as demonstrate her recognition that she would have a different approach to her poetic career compared to her brother. The introduction briefly explains the inspiring environment Christina Rossetti experienced during her childhood in London. When foreign visitors would attend the Rossetti home, the children had the opportunity to “listen to animated discussions of art, music, and revolutionary politics” (1724). Christina Rossetti’s acquaintances included Browning, Ruskin, Swinburne, Lewis Carroll, Edmund Gosse, and the Pre-Raphaelites. She also served as a model for two of her brother’s paintings, The Girlhood of Mary Virgin (1848-1849) and Ecce Ancilla Domini (1849-1850). Although she was unable to gain membership in the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, her first poems were published in their journal in 1850. Some critics believe that Rossetti chose to remain single after rejecting two suitors, witnessing her brother’s “tormented affairs,” and after volunteering at Highgate House of Charity for “fallen women.” The introduction concludes on Rossetti’s famous poem “Goblin Market,” stating that it was originally regarded as a children’s tale in the nineteenth century and contains an assortment of themes such as “a struggle between self and soul, a comment on sex as a capitalist commodity, a parable of feminist solidarity, a lesson about poetry’s subversive power, and a lesbian love story” (1725). It is said that this “fable provides insight into the dualistic world of Victorian fantasy,” allowing a writer to enter the categories of “violence, temptation, and transformation” and obtain a moralistic ending to tame the story.

2. Grass, Sean C. "Nature's Perilous Variety in Rossetti's "Goblin Market"" Nineteenth-Century Literature 51 (1996): 356-376. JSTOR. 15 May 2007 <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0891-9356%28199612%2951%3A3%3C356%3ANPVIR%22%3E2.0.CO%3B2-0>.
This work discusses the use of “lists” in “Goblin Market” and searches for possible reasons as to why the lists are included in the poem. Sean C. Grass argues that a list within the poem, “suggests that variety and multiplicity in the natural world, especially when juxtaposed against the harmony and unity of the sisters, are more central to Rossetti’s themes of temptation and moral discernment than has previously been thought” (358). Grass mentions that as a child Christina Rossetti visited zoos and the countryside, which contributed to her the variety found in nature. In fact, certain animals may have influenced her creation of the goblin men in her poem. Her brother Dante, as well as Pre-Raphaelite poetry, also contributed to her interest in nature. When she and her sister became involved in the Angelican Sisterhood of All Saints, she started to believe in the relationship between nature and morality. Grass observes, “Tractarianism thought included a central tenet of intense sacramentalism in which things visible in the natural world were thought to symbolize things invisible and divine” (360). Rossetti needed to create poetry which would involve the variety found in nature along with spiritualism and morality. After drawing out an example of the variety of the fruit in the first fourteen lines, Grass states that the goblin fruit alludes to the fruit that resulted in Eve’s fall in Eden. However Grass argues that the variety of fruit found in Rossetti’s poem is incorporated to produce “moral discernment,” which is “the spiritual problem Rossetti battled herself” (362). Grass includes other lists from the poem which display a lack of moral discernment, such as the variety of the goblin men, the similes listed to describe Laura’s fall, and later Lizzie’s similes to display her innocence contrasted against the cruel goblin men. Ultimately, Grass notes about the end of the poem stating that there is still a sense of harmony when all is resolved as Lizzie saves her sister. Grass states that, despite being in a world of bewilderment and temptation due to the variety found in nature, harmony can still be achieved by helping the fallen on a moral path.

3. Litwin, Grania. "More Than Just a Game." Times Colonist. 12 May 2007. 13 May 2007 <http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=1757be57-3942-45a8-a2d3-052b81836e66&k=93522>.
This article discusses the creation of a new board game called Skullduggery in which players imitate pirates trying to gain as much treasure as possible, while avoiding challenges brought on by creatures and the other players or pirates. Allegra Vernon, the designer of the game discusses how she came up with the concept and, through trial and error, achieved the final playable product. She remembers that her idea first began with a few sentences and eventually blossomed into a set of rules for the board game. What followed were possible designs for the game pieces and the board, which she tested and revised. Vernon had her family and others play the model game. If the players had things they did not enjoy while playing or if they found ways to cheat, she would work on improving those facets of the game. Vernon even used family members as models for the game pieces --for example, her father who posed for one of the pirate pieces. Her game board was partly based on two other board games, Labyrinth in which players create their own paths to collect objects and Zombies in which players must battle each other while trapped in small areas. Vernon notes that coming up with the mechanics and the design of the game was fairly simple as long as she used her problem-solving skills. She points out that “the abilities a game designer needs the most are memory, retention and foresight. You need to be able to see how changing one element will affect all the others.” She mentions afterwards that she was able to include mathematical elements in the game. Players have to consider probabilities and figure out how much of each element would be best to obtain. The American Mensa Association chose Vernon’s game as one of the top five games of the year.

4. Mendoza, Victor Roman. "'Come Buy': The Crossing of Sexual and Consumer Desire in Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market." ELH: Journal of English Literary History 73 (2006): 913-951. Literature Online. ProQuest. 15 May 2007 <http://lion.chadwyck.com/searchFulltext.do?id=R03887640&divLevel=0&queryId=../session/1179264153_17162&trailId=111F7202E6E&area=abell&forward=critref_ft>
This paper focuses mainly on the economic component found in Christina Rossetti’s poem. Victor Roman Mendoza argues that the economic language in the poem “rehearse[s] a sense of desire and a mode of enjoyment based on self-negation.” The paper is broken up into five sections. The first discusses briefly the allegory that the poem contains and observes that it touches on “Victorian social symptoms or conditions” such as female sexuality/purity, drug addiction, and labor. The second section describes how “Laura’s fetishistic romanticization” (912) surfaces in the lists of the poem. Mendoza argues that the repetitive statement “come buy” provides an “alluring” and “seductive” (921) element to the poem. He also touches on consumerism and the allurement related to it. He even touches on the fact that the sounds produced in saying the names of the fruit help with the theme of seduction because they simulate chewing sounds (922). The third section then focuses on the usage of gold in the poem and relates it to Karl Marx, a contemporary of Christina Rossetti. Mendoza mentions Marx’s description of gold as a “universal equivalent to and embodiment of...otherwise abstract value” (923). (Compared to Marx’s description of how gold is utilized, it is not applied in this manner in the poem). Instead, gold is used in the poem to descibe the girls' heads, the landscape and the shade of the fruit, altering Marx's utilization of gold. In his fourth section, Mendoza attempts to explain Lizzie and her silver penny on the basis of the penny's ability to fend off the goblins. He argues that the “consumer power” of the silver penny carries “its own moral, economic, and religious values” (929) and refers to Christ’s “Parable of the Lost Coin.” Lastly, Mendoza concludes by trying to argue that the passages of the poems he selects all function as “models of consumption, desire, and enjoyment” that parallel the reader's own sense of desire and enjoyment in reading the poem.

5. Resk, Lavell J. "Theater Review: Sisters Reflect Fantasy of Their Youth in Blue Room's Latest." Chico Enterprise Record. 10 May 2007. 16 May 2007 <http://www.chicoer.com/entertainment/ci_5855471>.
J. Lavell Resk's review discusses the Off-Off Broadway performance of “Goblin Market” at the Blue Room Theater on the night following its opening. The character Laura, played by Alison Rich, is portrayed as “the extrovert,” while Lizzie, played by Ashley Mauerhan, is described as “serious and reticent.” One of the first songs performed by the two sisters, the review notes, describe their similarities and how alike the two sisters are which displays their unity. Resk observes that the opening scenes not only establish the characters but preview the moral conflicts the characters will face. These conflicts are “conveyed through the ritualistic game of word play that starts slowly and builds momentum until each sister solos in near frenzy.” Resk points out that the story of Eve and her succumbing to the forbidden fruit is acted within play during the goblin men tempting the sisters to “Come buy our orchard fruit, come buy, come buy.” What follows are the girls’ attempt to not give into the temptation with a chant titled, “We Must Not Look” and eventually Lizzie’s climatic plea when she sings, “Do You Not Remember Jeanie?” The voices of the actresses are described as alternating between operatic and sultry. Meanwhile, the set provides the idea of lost innocence as the stage is set with black, purple, and white with touches of red and pink. When Laura chooses to eat the goblin fruit, Resk senses that there is a questioning of Lizzie’s loyalty to her sister. As this battle of temptation occurs on stage, “The audience too, must ponder a central theme: ‘Pleasure past and pleasure lost. Is it death or life out of death?’” Information about times, dates, and ticket price is provided at the end, with the suggestion that the play is for “mature audiences.”