Goblin Market by Christina Georgina Rossetti
After buying goblin fruit with a lock of hair, Laura can no longer hear or see its sellers and wastes away longing for another taste. Lizzie endures their assault without eating and brings home fruit juice on her skin; Laura kisses it off, suffers a violent crisis and recovers. Years later, Laura tells the children how her sister saved her and urges them to support one another.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Narrative Poetry, Fantasy Poetry, Cautionary Tale · 5,299 words
First lines
Morning and evening / Maids heard the goblins cry: / "Come buy our orchard fruits, / Come buy, come buy: / Apples and quinces, / Lemons and oranges, / Plump unpecked cherries, / Melons and raspberries, / Bloom-down-cheeked peaches, / Swart-headed mulberries, / Wild free-born cranberries, / Crab-apples, dewberries, / Pine-apples, blackberries, / Apricots, strawberries; -- / All ripe together / In summer weather, -- / Morns that pass by, / Fair eves that fly; / Come buy, come buy: / Our grapes fresh from the vine, / Pomegranates full and fine, / Dates and sharp bullaces, / Rare pears and greengages, / Damsons and bilberries, / Taste them and try: / Currants and gooseberries, / Bright-fire-like barberries, / Figs to fill your mouth, / Citrons from the South, / Sweet to tongue and sound to eye; / Come buy, come buy."
Genres
- Narrative Poetry — Rhymed verse follows Laura's purchase, decline and recovery through Lizzie's intervention, ending with Laura recounting the events to children.
- Fantasy Poetry — Animal-featured goblin merchants sell fruit that causes Laura to waste away, then disappear into the ground, brook and wind after Lizzie resists them.
- Cautionary Tale — Lizzie warns Laura through Jeanie's fatal encounter with the goblins; Laura's own ordeal becomes a warning and a lesson in sisterly help for the children.
Tags
sisters · goblins · enchanted fruit · temptation · resistance · rescue
What this Textopian page supports
Goblin Market is listed on Textopian as a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Narrative Poetry, Fantasy Poetry, Cautionary Tale
- Length: 5,299 words
- Structure: 1 section, 28 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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- Work identity for Goblin Market by Christina Georgina Rossetti
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