Poems

Excerpt from Poems Christina Rossetti -was the one woman of the young "Pre-Raphaelite" company. When their little short-lived "Germ" was published, in 1850, three notable poets were associated-Coventry Patmore, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and Christina. She was one of that band; but little, indeed, do we hear of her in the many histories and recollections of the times and the men. She lived in close affection with her family, in slight intercourse with a few friends, but much aloof from the world. Her seclusion was not in the service of herself or of her muse. We are told that during fifty-six years she was hardly a night absent from her mother. To that mother, to her two aged aunts, to the services of her churchy to the succour of the poor - in a word to duty, she dedicated herself informally. Her brother, Mr. W. M. Rossetti, has written: "One thing which occupied her to an extent one would hardly credit was the making-up of scrapbooks for hospital patients or children So far was this woman of genius from the rebelliousness and self-seeking not unknown among women-writers of a little talent. Christina Rossetti was London-born in 1830, of an Italian father and a mother partly Italian partly English, and was brought up to be almost completely an Englishwoman, albeit her childhood was passed within hearing of the vehement conversations of her father's Italian political friends. She travelled extremely little; we read of but one tour in Italy. Her great devotion to the Anglican Church seemed to fix her yet more firmly as English. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.