Verses+by+Christina+Rossetti

// Verses // is a book of Christian poetry written by Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894), published in 1893 by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK). Rossetti published five other books with the SPCK all Biblical commentaries, called //Seek and Find// (1879), //Called to be Saints// (1881), //Letter and Spirit// (1883), //Time Flies// (1885), and //The Face of the Deep// (1892). //Verses// takes the poetry interspersed in //Called to be Saints//, //Time Flies//, and //The Face of the Deep//, to create a book of poetry.

This copy is a later edition published in 1896. The book has a simple black cover with gold writing and no decoration. There is a Christmas gift inscription on the first page which says "Haynie, Christmas 1898, from Neary d. Cross and Margaret Cross".The pages are gilt on the top, deckled on the side, and plain cut on the bottom. Many pages are cut down, possibly due to foxing on the page edges. Each page is ruled in red ink, and there are small designs to separate sections of poems.

The Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge is an unofficial organization of the Anglican Church formed to provide Christian literature to the poor of England, founded in 1698 by Thomas Bray (Findlay 1). The group set up charity schools and Catechetical libraries, while also publishing materials for those institutions. They printed tracts, bibles and prayer books (many given to the British Navy), children’s books, and educational books of religious theme of all kinds. Later they expanded to missionary work, a branch that split off to become the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (Findlay 1). The nature of the organization is clearly evangelical, as their mission is to propagate knowledge of Christianity both to the poorer classes and to the colonized world. Due to the organization's charitable nature, the books they publish are simply bound and compact. In // Verses //, there is little white space in the margins, and though there are small decorative touches to separate sections of books, there are no illustrations. The cover is similarly unadorned, keeping with the Protestant tradition of austerity. This is interesting given Christina Rossetti’s relationship to the Oxford Movement.

The Oxford Movement was a push by the High Anglican Clergymen to restore 17th Century Christian ideals, specifically the return of ritual seen in the Roman Catholic Church (Cross 1). This meant a return to the artistry and intricacy of Catholicism, creating the Anglo-Catholic beauty that Dante Gabriel Rossetti depicts in his paintings (Bullen 1). Christina Rossetti came under the influence of a Puseyite (an alternate name for the Oxford Movement) minister of Christ Church as a young woman, and remained a devout Anglican for the rest of her life (Duguid 1). This connection to Anglo-Catholicism is contradictory to the evangelical Anglicanism of the SPCK. Perhaps Rossetti saw the SPCK as an acceptable form of no-frills religion for the poor, while she preferred the complex ritual and beauty of the higher-class Anglo-Catholic services of the Church of England.

Her relationship with the SPCK spans 14 years, first publishing //Seek and Find// in 1879 and publishing //Verses// in 1893, a year before her death ("Christina Rossetti Bibliography" 1). //Verses// is the first book of her poetry published by the SPCK, as her five previous works were devotional books of prose. //Verses// takes the poetry published in the prose works //[|Called to be Saints]// (1881), //[|Time Flies]// (1885) and //[|The Face of the Deep]// (1892). //Called to be Saints: the Minor Festivals Devotionally Studied// is an educational text on the lives of 19 saints “commemorated by name in the Book of Common Prayer” (//Called to be Saints// Rossetti xiii). //Time Flies: A Reading Diary// is a series of meditations on religious topics in the form of diary entries (//Time Flies// Rossetti). //The Face of the Deep: A Devotional Commentary on the Apocalypse// is another didactic prose text with occasional poems (//The Face of the Deep// Rossetti). It is interesting that SPCK published so much prose by a woman primarily known for her poetry. The partnership may be due to their willingness to publish religious material regardless of origin (though it is worth noting that they did not publish her works until later in her career, when she had accrued at least some reputation). Creating a volume of her religious poetry in contrast to the fantastical works that had been published previously shows a side to Christina Rossetti that had not been represented in her other poetic works.

The poems from the previous three works are organized into seven sections. Each section contains a mixture of lyric poems and sonnets, with sonnets generally grouped together within a section. The First section, “Out of the Deep have I called to You O Lord” contains mainly sonnets that have biblical quotes as their titles. The encompassing theme of the section is pray to God in times of hopelessness, referring to the Book of Job (Rossetti 9) as well as many other biblical stories. The second section, “Christ our All in All” collects devotional poems addressed directly to God. There are more lyrics than sonnets, and this section is much longer than the first. The third section is titled “Some Feasts and Fasts” and contains poems written for the holidays of the Christian calendar, moving chronologically from “Advent Sunday” (51) to “Sunday before Advent” (98). Section Four “Gifts and Graces” has many poems without titles: short lyrics asking God to bless the subject of the poem. The Fifth section is “Divers Worlds. Time and Eternity,” which is thematically based on the sinful nature of earth, and the glories to look forward to in Heaven. Section Six is “New Jerusalem and its Citizens,” which describes life after Judgment Day in the Holy City of Jerusalem. The final section, “Songs for Strangers and Pilgrims,” describes the life on everyday Christians, and how the presence of God improves their lives. This section is varied and long, it seems to be a catch-all section for poems that did not fit the other categories. The sections loosely segment the life of a Christian, the hopeless life and turning to God for salvation, the praising God, the celebrating God through feasts and fasts, the wishing the presence of God onto your loved ones, the longing for Heaven, the hope for Jerusalem, and the everyday moments of Christianity.

1014 words. Digital Version of //Verses// [|here]. UVIC Call Number: PR5237 A1 1896

Works Cited Bullen, J. B. “Rossetti, Dante Gabriel (1828–1882)”, //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography//, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2015 accessed 11 Feb 2016

" [|Christina Rossetti Bibliography]" – UK First Edition Books," //Bookseller World//, Web, 19 May 2011.

Duguid, Lindsay. ‘Rossetti, Christina Georgina (1830–1894)’, //Oxford Dictionary of National Biography//, Oxford University Press, 2004; onlineedn, Jan 2009. Date Accessed 11 Feb. 2016

Findlay, Brian. "Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge." //The Oxford Companion to the Book.// : Oxford University Press, 2010. //Oxford Reference//. 2010. Date Accessed 11 Feb. 2016

Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone "Oxford Movement." //The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church:// Oxford University Press, 2005. //Oxford Reference//. 2009. Date Accessed 11 Feb. 2016

Rossetti, Christina Georgina. //Called to be Saints//. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1896. Web. []

Rossetti, Christina Georgina. //Time Flies//. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1896. Web. []

Rossetti, Christina Georgina. //The Face of the Deep//. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1896. Web. []

Rossetti, Christina Georgina. //Verses//. London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1896.

Claire MacKay CM.Engl386.UVic.Spring2016