Cousin Kate

In my English lesson this week we discussed in class what a "fallen women" could represent. I suggested that a fallen women could be a women who has fallen into a man’s trap of sex and drugs or seduction, but as i was saying it i realised how feminist i sounded so i hope i didn't give off the wrong impression. On the other hand, other suggestions were mentioned that intrigued me, such as the term could represent a women who has fallen from heaven, therefore a women who is pure and innocent. The reason why we had this discussion was because it linked in with the new poem that we are beginning to analysis known as "Cousin Kate", which is also written by Christina Rossetti.


As we read through and annotated the poem it became clear to me why we were asked to explore ideas of what a fallen woman could suggest as the speaker in the poem is one herself. The feminine speaker "was a cottage maiden", therefore she was once innocent until she became victimised and something, or someone, changed her. Ever since then she has been discarded by society aswe discover in the second stanza that it was a man who "lured" her and convinced her into loving him which made her feel ashamed as she became a fallen women and therefore an outcast (someone who people disapprove of).


The speaker then starts to make the reader become aware of her emotions, which include jealousy towards the more beautiful “Cousin Kate” who has been “lifted” her from her low social status by the man she once loved and, perhaps, she may also feel regret as she wonders “why did a great lord find me out”. However, the ending of the poem is very effective and unpredictable as we comprehend the fact that she is differs from the traditional idea of the fallen women as she has gained a son, who is her “shame” but also her “pride”. She therefore has something that Cousin Kate will never have, which is suggested when it says “and seem not like to get” and makes us feel content for our speaker as although society believes she has committed a shameful sin, she is in control and has the care and love of her son to be gifted with.


I didn't really know what to write but i hope this is okay!

Interpretations

In my most recent English lesson we continued to look at the interpretations in the poem. The class was split into five groups and each group was given an interpretation to look into with more detail. My group was given Marxist, which I thought was a weak interpretation at first until I wrote about it in the blog post below and my interest grew as well as the strength of my argument that it could be interpreted into the poem. However, due to the fact we were only given one interpretation to discuss within the group we were not very clear on how the other interpretation could fit into the poem which is why the class had a group discussion on the other interpretations that were involved such as; Feminist, Erotic, Redemption and Morality.


Morality is, in my opinion, a very important interpretation. Rossetti was very religious and this is shown in many of her poems, especially the Goblin Market, therefore morality can be interpreted strongly throughout the poem. When Lizzie suffers to save Laura this could represent an illusion of the Christian story when Jesus is crucified as she is sacrificing herself in order for Laura to survive. Also, it could be argued that the story of Adam and Eve links in with parts of the poem as the fruit could be the sin and the goblins could represent the serpent, therefore they may been seen as devil like. In addition, when it says “soul consuming care” the word “soul” shows that they believe in high power and that what you do affects your soul. Rossetti also puts forward the idea that you have to face to consequences of your actions by describing how Laura suffers after eating the fruit as she becomes physically ill and also experiences physiological consequences.


 Furthermore, after the discussion in class I discovered that there is an erotic side to the poem and that it does come across strongly as you analyse deeper into the poem. When Laura sells her "golden locks" this may suggest that she is selling her virginity and the fact that she cuts off a lock of her "precious" golden hair could be a representation of the cutting of her chastity belt which is very erotic. Moreover, when the goblins are attacking Lizzie you could argue that they are sexually abusing her as the goblins "held her hands and squeezed the fruit" - this could show them squeezing the virginity and innocence out of her.


Overall, I found that feminism was an interpretation that I believe it is the strongest of the five we discussed. The idea of women overruling men and appearing as good and beautiful in comparison to the grotesque appearance and aggressive manner of the goblins makes the reader believe that feminism is an argument that could be put forward when discussing what certain details of the poem symbolise and represent, such as the goblins. The goblins could represent Rossetti’s opinion of all men and because they act brutally towards the two sisters, who are the only women mentioned in the poem therefore they represent all women, shows that Rossetti has a negative view over how men acted towards women during the period of time when the poem was written. Furthermore, due to the fact Lizzie is the feminine hero in the poem as she saves her sisters life and in some ways sacrifices her own innocence and virginity in order to heal her sister, this makes us believe that Rossetti opinions of women over men are much more positive and good and she thinks of them as heroic, innocent and proper. Also when the goblins stamp upon Lizzie’s "tender" feet this shows abuse and, perhaps, sexual abuse which links into the erotic interpretation.

Marxist

One interpretation in the "Goblin Market" is Marxism and in my previous lesson I got given the task finding out how this interpretation is shown in the poem. The poem could link to the economic state of time when the poem was written in many ways which shows the reader the importance of trade and market stalls and the need for Marxism in that period of time.

The goblin men could symbolise and represent many things, but we concluded that they could represent businessmen or con artists due to their sly attitude which is shown when it says "signalling each other, brother with sly brother". Businessmen and, especially, con artists are known to act slyly towards people and their sales techniques and ways of persuading and tempting anyone who takes interest in what they are selling is similar to how the goblins tempt Laura into eating their fruit. The fact that she eats the fruit shows that the flaunting of their fruit and repetitive use of persuasive words such as "look" and "come buy" is very effective, therefore the goblins obviously have experience and efficient ways in selling the fruit so the argument that they could represent skilled businessmen is, in my opinion, a strong one.

Furthermore, the goblins know that once Laura tries the fruit she will become hooked onto the "sweet", "strong" and "clear" taste and will desire to eat more of it. This is why they are desperately trying to sell the fruit as once she has had a taster of the substances then they will have succeeded in making another person addicted to what they are selling so they will then want to come back and buy more. If the goblins represent businessmen then the selling of the fruit represents part of their business, therefore her addiction will make their business more sustainable. However, when Laura goes back to buy more of the fruit the goblins have disappeared which tells us that once they have got what they want they depart from the area. This could mean that the goblin men in fact represent con artists who are crafty people that attempt to sell something that is deceptive, such as the fruit that makes you ill and age prematurely once you have eaten it, and once they have sold their product they leave so that they cannot get caught. The goblins therefore have bad intentions and their misleading appearance and product causes problems that they evidently indented to do which means they are creatures, or in other words monsters, that cannot be trusted.

Moreover, when Laura sells her "golden curl" to the goblins this links in to the idea of Marxism as the fact that the lock of hair is described as "golden" makes us believe that it is seen as valuable to the goblins. Due to this we might start to think that she is selling something more than just a golden curl and that perhaps she is selling her innocence or part of herself. However, the curl could mean nothing to the goblins and they might actually intend to sell at any cost as they know the fruit is very addictive and that she will return to buy more.

Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti was an English poet who wrote a variety poems, including romantic and children's poems, but she is best known for her extremely long poem known as "Goblin Market". She is the youngest of four children and she was born on the 5 December 1830. Much of Rossetti's poetry was inspired by her religion as she came from a very religious background and was brought up as an devout Anglo-Catholic. Her love of God is passionately expressed is some of her poems and her writing is known to be sad, but she can also express the ligher side of life.

Some people consider the "Goblin Market" to be her best work. This poem has been seen as an allegory, in which the fruits offered by the goblins stand for the pleasures of the world, though according to Christina's brother William she denied that it was anything more than 'a fairy story'.

Christina Rossetti's family was very important to her. Although she loved two different men, and it is clear from her poetry that she could express feelings of love and the heartbreak of losing love, she never married or broke away from home.


Christiana died in 29 December 1894 from cancer at the age of 85.

Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti

After reading the never ending poem called "Goblin Market" by Christina Rossetti, i had mixed first impressions. I thought the poem was very unusual and weird, especially the start and ending, but i also thought that once i discover the meaning behind all the small, strange details in the poem and study its poetic devices i will start to understand and realise its effectiveness.

In my previous English lesson we looked at the first several stanzas and concluded what some of the details really signify. I really enjoyed the lesson as it became clear to me what the start of the poem is trying to suggest and as we began to annotate my interest grew in the implications of the poem. After reading the first stanza, which includes a list of hundreds of fruits, i realised it was trying to suggest ideas of gluttony and sexual temptation. The words "come buy" are repeated which shows that the goblins are trying to tempt the maids, women that represent innocence and youth, to buy their fruits. Also, the words "unpecked" and "ripe" suggest virginity therefore the idea of sexual temptation is formed in the readers mind, but this did not come clear to me at first! Additionally, the reader may think that Rossetti is attempting to interoperate a theme of religion. In the bible, God tells Adam and Eve not to touch the tree that gives knowledge of good and evil as the day you eat the fruit, you will die. They however give into temptation after the persuasion of a serpent and are punished by God. This therefore shows that the Goblin men could represent the serpent as they persuade Laura into eating their fruits which leads to consequences.

Furthermore, as you read deeper into the poem you are given a description of the globins appearance. Before the description is given, Rossetti makes the reader believe that the goblins are nice, pleasant creatures as they sounded "kind and full of loves" so when we discover that they "crawled like a snail" and had "cat's" faces, this plants a grotesque and disturbing image in the readers mind. In addition, when i read the part where Laura gives in to the goblins temptation and she "sucked" the fruit that are "sweeter than honey from the rock", "stronger than man-rejoicing wine" and "clearer than water flowed that juice" i started to consider the idea of the fruit and the goblins being very similar by the way they mislead people. The goblins sound nice but they are unappealing to the eye which suggests that they are not to be trusted and we in actual fact find out that they are deceptive creatures later on in the poem. This is comparable to the fruits and their supernatural, addictive taste because during the end of the poem it reveals that the fruit has negatively affected Laura's youth and health, therefore the fruit is misleading as well as the goblins.

I am really looking forward to looking at what certain details symbolise and represent and after my last English lesson I am keen to read further into the poem whilst picking out the unobvious symbolisms, devices and meanings behind words and phrases that most readers, like me, tend to not realise.

A destination of a novel

In class we were asked to write about how there is a destination to every novel, in other words how every novel leads to somethings whether is be death or love, and how the author who wrote "Pride and Prejudice" puts across where the narrative is heading to the reader at the very start of the book. I'm not too sure what to write or where to start, but here is what i believe is right, even though it probably isnt.

Every novel has a destination and this may be clearly shown at the very start of the narrative by what the first chapter entails the way it is structured. 

The destination of the novel "Pride and Prejudice" becomes clear to the reader in the first chapter. After reading the first sentence "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife" (which is a famous theory of great importance) an idea including marriage and wealth instantly becomes intriguing as it is the opening sentence.

Futhermore, the first sentence also has its own paragraph which helps the reader understand its importance and it also allows the theory to be more memorable, therefore the reader may think back to the begining of the narrative and realise its destination if they didn't grasp where the book is heading after reading the first chapter.

The conversation throughout the first chapter between Mr and Mrs Bennet is highly important, more so where they are and who they are because the fact that focus is not on the characters and the setting but on a conversation about marriage helps show that destination involves marriage, making the first sentence and what follows after it within the chapter very significant.

However, it is only until the end of the chapter when attention is brought onto who is discussing the topic of marriage as a brief description about the two characters is given. This adds emphasis to the conversation and allows the readers concentation to be directly on what they are saying. It also shows that what they discussing should be taken into consideration as they put forward ideas that are key to the destination which helps clarify it.

Finally, the last sentence of the chapter mentions that "The buisness of her life was to get her daughters married.." which is a large clue as to where the book will lead the reader and it is also a key quote to remember whilst reading the narrative. This is because it states that Mrs Bennets aim in life is to marry off her daugters which shows how important marriage is to one of the first characters to be introduced, therefore implicating that the author will lean more towards marriage as the reader gets deaper into the story.

"Mr Francis entered the room. There was a piece of paper on the floor"

The writer has put the piece of paper on the floor for a reason; therefore it must have significance. It may be there to create tension or it could link to something that has already occurred, or perhaps the writer has chosen to write about the detail to create a messy atmosphere.

The piece of paper could be on the floor of a classroom and it is there to help show that a teacher has lost control of their class as the pupils are starting to throw paper across the room. The paper could represent something, for example a crumpled relationship as Mr Francis discovers an old lover is in the room with him. Or maybe, the paper could contain a list of names that he has been searching for, but someone had not wanted him to find the list as it has been littered on the floor. 

Something could be printed, written or hidden inside the paper that is of great importance to Mr Francis as the writer has brought attention to the detail. Although it is seen as litter and Mr Francis will most likely think nothing of it, there could be something within the paper that is valuable and he does not realise this.

However, the paper could just be there to signify that the room is messy or the writer has put it there for him not to pick up to show that he does not care about mess and litter. It may even be there to distract the reader from what has previously happened. Whatever the reason is behind why there is a piece of paper on the floor, whether it is to help create a scene or to build upon the tension, the paper has a significance as does every other detail the writer has brought attention to.

But all of this is speculation as at the end of the lesson i picked it up and put in my bag and i know what it was. I hope you remember your frozen peas and loaf of bread for tonight.