Christina+Rossetti's+Goblin+Market

Christina Rossetti published “Goblin Market” in her 1862 eponymous volume. The poem dictates the story of two young girls tempted by the cries of Goblins to buy their luscious fruits. “Goblin Market” is unique for its illustrations and became iconic for its imagery and subject matter.

“Goblin Market” is a narrative poem about two young sisters, Laura and Lizzie. Everyday the young girls can hear the Goblin men crying out for people to come and buy their luscious fruits. It is a trap, however, for those that do buy the fruits and indulge in them are doomed to waste away. Laura is tempted, however, and succumbs to the Goblin’s cries. In exchange for a lock of her golden hair, she receives a piece of fruit, which she gorges on and returns back home to her sister. After that fateful evening, Laura realizes that she is no longer able to hear the Goblin’s cries as her sister can, meaning she is no longer able to buy the fruit that her body now depends on to survive. She begins to waste away. When it becomes clear that Laura is not going to live much longer, Lizzie sacrifices her safety and goes to the Goblins with a silver penny to buy the fruit and bring it home to save her sister. The Goblins do not approve of her taking the fruit away for someone else, resulting in them beating her, smearing fruit and juice all over her body. Lizzie escapes home, and upon her arrival urges Laura to suck the juice from her body from her altercation with the Goblins. Laura does, and is saved thanks to Lizzie’s bravery.

The book was meant to be a pocket book, one that would have been given as a gift for the Christmas market. It was a sign of refinement if one had a book such as this, for it showed an interest in poetry and the pursuit of information that became important in the Victorian era. The original volume had a fabric binding, decorated with a gold design on the front. The inside of the book was adorned with original illustrations that accompanied the poem as well. Representations of the goblins ranged from precious and friendly looking in some illustrations to downright sinister in others. Christina Rossetti’s brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, provided two illustrations. He chose to depict the scene in which the two sisters embrace, and the scene in which Laura gives the Goblins a lock of her hair in exchange for the fruit. Dante Gabriel Rossetti chose these scenes because his main interest is female subjects who face some kind of restraint, which describes the sisters in that they are restrained from buying the fruit; and restrained from a normal life when Laura yields to the Goblins advances and buys their fruit (Flygare).

The intended audience for ”Goblin Market” was always adult, before critics latched onto the poem’s fairy-tale content and claimed that Rossetti wrote it for children. The descriptions of the fruit sold by the goblins are erotic with suggestive undertones to them. Certain cultural factors are definitely at play when considering the audience at the time //Goblin Market and Other Poems// was published. Woman at this time were homemakers and had maternal qualities. Those who were involved in the arts such as Christina Rossetti would have been expected to write for children -- after all, that was seen as the woman’s sphere. The precise markets for the poem are, as Kooistra illustrates, a matter of interpretation.

Alexander Macmillan published //Goblin Market and Other Poems// in 1862. He knew the public’s interest in illustrated adult books, so he made a point of capitalizing on Christina Rossetti’s work. Macmillan and Rossetti corresponded in detail on the volume, showing the strong relationship that Rossetti had with her publisher, but also her ability to negotiate her literary business within the norms of feminine decorum and propriety.

Rossetti, Christina. “Goblin Market.”// The Broadview Anthology of Victorian Poetry and Poetic Theory //. Ed. Thomas J. Collins and Vivienne J. Rundle. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press. 848-855. Print. Flygare, Julie.“Intertwining themes in ‘Goblin Market’”. //Christina Rossetti.// Victorianweb.org, 20 October 2003. Web. 19 October 2012 Kooistra, Lorraine Janzen. “Modern Markets for 'Goblin Market.'” //Victorian Poetry// 32 (1994): 249-277. Web. Rossetti, Christina. //Goblin Market and Other Poems//. London: Macmillan & Co., 1862.
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