Goblin Market

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Christina Rossetti’s work represents a variety of styles and genres, including the Victorian fairy tale. What are the characteristics of the Victorian fairy tale? For what other styles and genres is Rossetti known?

Teaching Suggestion: Scholars have applied a score of contextual lenses to Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”; multiple contexts may be useful for preparing students to analyze the text. For example, Rossetti’s background with religion and her work rehabilitating women involved with sex work for reintegration into society informs potential readings of the poem. In addition to prompting the students to consider the poem’s place as a Victorian fairy tale, you may also broaden their understanding of “Goblin Market” as a fantasy and a narrative poem, and within a historical context as a product of 19th-century England.

• In “I Am Christina Rossetti” from The Common Reader, Second Series, 20th-century novelist Virginia Woolf analyzes the life of Christina Rossetti in honor of the poet’s 100th birthday. Part biographical analysis and part ode to Rossetti’s influence on the genre of poetry, Woolf does more than recount factual details about Rossetti’s life.

She delves into the emotional landscape of the poet in an almost literary manner, providing a fascinating look at the experiences and attitudes that might have influenced the themes and ideas Rossetti explored in her poetry. This resource will enrich students’ understanding of the work as influenced by the poet’s background.

• “Fantasy, Magic, and Fairyland in 19th Century England,” the introduction to essayist and folklorist Terri Windling’s Victorian fantasy anthology Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells, is lengthy but provides an opportunity to overview several important contexts at once. The introduction explores the Victorian fascination with fairy tales and the development of the Victorian fairy tale. It also discusses the Victorian concept of childhood, providing important context in considering how the divide between didacticism and fantasy influenced the intent behind fairy tales written in this time period.

Other information covered in the introduction includes social historical context surrounding sex, gender, and industrialization. The final paragraphs connect the Victorian fairy tale as a response to the chief concerns of the time with present-day concerns, which will prepare students to make similar connections in the Activity in which they are asked to reimagine “Goblin Market” for the 21st century. All in all, this introduction provides information on several major contextual lenses that may be applied to “Goblin Market.”

Personal Connection Prompt

This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection homework before reading the poem.

Picture the thing that you most desire in the world. Imagine it is being offered to you, but to accept it would come with grave consequences. What would you do in the face of such temptation? If you indulge in the temptation, how would you respond to the consequences? Could you resist temptation to save someone you love?

Teaching Suggestion: These questions will prepare students to make connections to the Morality, Self-Determination, and Female Community themes in the poem by prompting them to think about their own desires, the consequences of acting on a desire, and the bonds of love that serve both as sources of forgiveness and redemption. Responding to these questions will help students build an emotional context before reading the poem, serving as a jumping-off point through which they can connect with Laura and Lizzie and the characters’ respective arcs in the poem.