Selected Poems

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828 - 1882) and Christina Rossetti (1830 - 1894)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828-1882) and his sister Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894) played important roles in the artistic milieu of Victorian England. Members of a highly cultured Italian immigrant family, they achieved widespread fame and exerted a significant influence upon the poetry and art of their time.

Dante Gabriel was a co-founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood of painters, contributing to a renewed interest in medieval themes and techniques. Both his painting and his poetry anticipated the Aesthetic movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His deep intellect and highly emotional nature are reflected in poems that exhibit a combination of complex symbolism and powerful feeling. He was a master of the sonnet form, as best exemplified in his book The House of Life.

Christina served as a model for some of her brother’s early paintings, and she was closely identified with the Pre-Raphaelites. Her poetry is more accessible and displays perhaps a greater felicity of expression than her brother’s. Today she holds a higher reputation, often being ranked (sometimes rather condescendingly) among the leading women poets. Other critics, quite appropriately, consider her a major poet without the feminine label. A deeply devout person, she never married, although she eventually rejected two suitors, both for religious reasons. She produced a large body of Christian poetry, which is not represented in this collection. She also wrote many delightful poems for children. (Summary by Leonard Wilson)

Genre(s): Poetry, Anthologies

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Silent Noon Leonard Wilson
00:01:45
Play 02 A Birthday Leonard Wilson
00:01:22
Play 03 A Little While Leonard Wilson
00:01:48
Play 04 Remember Leonard Wilson
00:01:23
Play 05 My Sister's Sleep Leonard Wilson
00:03:55
Play 06 Maude Claire Leonard Wilson
00:02:44
Play 07 Sudden Light Leonard Wilson
00:01:23
Play 08 Dream Land Leonard Wilson
00:01:56
Play 09 Soul's Beauty Leonard Wilson
00:01:37
Play 10 Body's Beauty Leonard Wilson
00:01:38
Play 11 Goblin Market Leonard Wilson
00:23:13
Play 12 Autumn Song Leonard Wilson
00:01:25
Play 13 Song Leonard Wilson
00:01:16
Play 14 The Choice I, II & III Leonard Wilson
00:04:02
Play 15 After Death Leonard Wilson
00:01:41
Play 16 The Love Letter Leonard Wilson
00:01:34
Play 17 No, Thank You, John Leonard Wilson
00:02:13
Play 18 The Hill Summit Leonard Wilson
00:01:33
Play 19 Love From the North Leonard Wilson
00:02:26
Play 20 The Blessed Damozel Leonard Wilson
00:07:43
Play 21 At Home Leonard Wilson
00:02:29
Play 22 A Day of Love Leonard Wilson
00:01:34
Play 23 Last Night Leonard Wilson
00:02:50
Play 24 Insomnia Leonard Wilson
00:01:56
Play 25 In the Round Tower at Jhansi Leonard Wilson
00:01:57
Play 26 Mary's Girlhood (For a Picture) Leonard Wilson
00:01:42
Play 27 Somewhere or Other Leonard Wilson
00:01:23
Play 28 The Ballad of Dead Ladies Leonard Wilson
00:02:18
Play 29 Helen Grey Leonard Wilson
00:01:53
Play 30 Lost Days Leonard Wilson
00:01:39
Play 31 An End Leonard Wilson
00:01:33
Play 32 Sister Helen Leonard Wilson
00:14:21
Play 33 Uphill Leonard Wilson
00:01:36
Play 34 The One Hope Leonard Wilson
00:01:34
Play 35 Children's Poems, from Sing-Song Leonard Wilson
00:03:06