Christina Rossetti Context Guide

A detailed PDF on Christina Rossetti, covering her family background, faith, Victorian context, Tractarianism, poetry and the world that shaped her writing.

This resource a fuller sense of Rossetti as a writer. It begins with her family’s Italian exile background, the literary atmosphere of the Rossetti household, her education at home, and the influence of Dante, before moving into childhood, motherhood, Victorian social change, religious thought, the Crimean War, Tractarianism, John Henry Newman and convent life.

The booklet does not only focus on religion, though that is central. It also shows how Rossetti’s writing emerges from family loyalty, bilingual and literary upbringing, changing Victorian society, poverty, social reform, high Anglican ritual and the restricted roles available to women. That makes it much easier for students to connect context to actual poems instead of forcing in loose historical detail.