Christina Rossetti - AO5 readings

Question 1

Andrew Stewart and Alexandra Russel

Answer 1

‘Christina Rossetti’s ‘Maude Clare’ engages in a discourse on hegemonic definitions of Victorian femininity’

Question 2

Sandra Gilbert & Susan Gibst

Answer 2

‘Rossetti loses herself in the aesthetics of renunciation, experiencing an almost extreme self-pity and self-congratulation at her self-denial

Question 3

Lydia Palazzo

Answer 3

‘Rossetti has radically rewritten the Fall and Eve in terms of the social and spiritual abuse of women which she sees around her and includes more than a hint that male gender oppression be interpreted as original sin’

Question 4

Dolores Rosenblum

Answer 4

‘her poetry has been valued… for its affirmations of female piety, passivity and submission…’