Christina Georgina Rossetti (5 December 1830 – 29 December 1894) Was the youngest of four children born to Italian poet Gabriele Rossetti and his wife, Frances Polidori- the sister of Lord Byron's friend and physician John William Polidori. Her siblings were Maria Francesca, a writer and a Nun with theSociety of All Saints Sisters of the Poor; Gabriel Charles Dante (known as Dante Gabriel), an influential painter and co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, along with their brother, writer and literary critic William Michael.
Rossetti's family supported and encouraged her endeavors, and her poetry is never far from the literary world. After Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s death in 1861, readers and critics saw Rossetti as the older poet’s rightful successor. However, critics saw her poetry as less intellectual, political, and varied than Browning’s, but they acknowledged that Rossetti had a greater lyrical gift. She was lauded as the "foremost female poet of her time," and her works still inspire poets, authors, and painters today.
To learn more about Christina Rossetti, check out the link above, or visit her Wikipedia page.
Poems used in this episode are: Dreamland, No, Thank you, John, Fata Morgana, and Goblin Market. Find them all on Project Gutenberg!
