Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830–1894) was an English poet known for her lyrical intensity, religious devotion, and distinctive treatments of love, renunciation, death, and desire. She was born in London to Gabriele Rossetti, an Italian political exile and scholar, and Frances Polidori Rossetti. Her siblings included the painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, literary critic William Michael Rossetti, and writer Maria Francesca Rossetti. Rossetti grew up in an artistic and intellectually active household closely associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement, though her poetry developed an independent voice. Her first major collection, Goblin Market and Other Poems, appeared in 1862. Its title poem, a richly symbolic narrative about two sisters and seductive goblin merchants, became her best-known work. Other important volumes include The Prince’s Progress and Other Poems (1866), Sing-Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book (1872), A Pageant and Other Poems (1881), and Verses (1893). A devout Anglican with strong High Church beliefs, Rossetti wrote devotional prose as well as poetry. Her faith profoundly shaped her work, often producing a tension between spiritual aspiration and earthly longing. She declined several marriage proposals, partly on religious grounds, and remained unmarried. In later life she suffered from recurring illness, including Graves’ disease and breast cancer. She died in London on December 29, 1894.
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