Poem review: "Goblin Market" (1862) by Christina Rossetti.

Hello all! Do you ever feel you want something sweet? Do you ever want something you know you should not have? That is exactly what happens in Christina Rossetti's gothic poem "Goblin Market" (1862)…

In today's review I am going to give my thoughts on Rossetti's poem of sinful desires and greeds. Here we have two sisters: Laura and Lizzie. When the goblin men tempt them with their fruits, Laura is interested. Lizzie however, insists that her sister should ignore them. This could be seen as allusion to Adam and Eve with Nachash the snake in the garden of Eden. This wanting of the bad fruit that a woman knows she should not have.

Unlike Eve though, Lizzie does not get an apples on offer. Instead there are many other fruits for her to bite into. She tells her sister as such -

‘I'll bring you plums to-morrow
Fresh on their mother twigs,
Cherries worth getting;
You cannot think what figs

My teeth have met in,
What melons icy-cold
Piled on a dish of gold

Too huge for me to hold,
What peaches with a velvet nap,
Pellucid grapes without one seed:
Odorous indeed must be the mead’¹.

The way Lizzie comes out with this as though she had a lot and cannot get enough of what they offer. It comes across as being greedy and reminds me of the seven deadly sin of gluttony. Where Lizzie is depicted as a gluttonous person, Laura does not. Rossetti has presented us with this idea of good vs bad and always like seeing that in anything I read. The contrast of good vs bad reflects society in my opinion as there has always been a good vs bad. I like the bad and sometimes the good being challenged or questioned.

The other significant part of the poem is the sisterhood between Laura and Lizzie. Is this a reflection of Christina Rossetti's relationship with her own sister Maria Francesca Rossetti? Or perhaps the sisterhood is an allusion to lesbianism? There is no clear answer as to how Rossetti meant for the sisters Laura and Lizzie to come across as. As readers, we have no way of knowing exactly what she meant. There might even be an alternative meaning.

One thing that is certain is how the poem utilises the gothic genre and blurs the distinction between masculinity and femininity. This a good example of something that happens today in society and I like seeing that sort of stuff when I am reading whether poetry or something else. The darkness of the poem also adds to the feel of the gothic theme running through the poem. Overall, Christina Rossetti has written a good poem that tempts people to think about choices and the consequences these can have. I am giving "Goblin Market" a 7/10.

Until next time,

Thomas.

Footnotes:

¹ "Goblin Market", Poems, The Poetry Foundation, accessed October 22nd, 2025. Goblin Market | The Poetry Foundation

Bibliography:

The Poetry Foundation. "Goblin Market." Poems. Accessed October 22nd, 2025. Goblin Market | The Poetry Foundation