Biblical Allegories in Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’ Priyanka Negi College

Christina Rossetti’s ‘Goblin Market’ can indisputably be called her most popular work considering the amount of critical attention it has attracted leading to disparate readings that delve into multifaceted motifs, each giving birth to fresher perspectives. Claimed to be as a work for children by the creator, this ambiguous poem has been interpreted as a work charged with implied homo-erotic imagery, as one of the pieces that contributed to the buildup of impending first wave of revolution by the ‘fairer sex’ against the conventions of the Victorian era, as an allegory of the fall and redemption of humanity. Goblin’s Market encompasses a plethora of literary themes with its feminist undertones, gothic style, sexual innuendos and hence the space for diverse readings should be permissible. However, even Rossetti’s assertion that this deceptively simple poem was simply intended for children does not diminish the irresistibility of the prospect of giving it an allegorical reading as "nearly all her poems contain important allusions to and quotations from The Book of Common Prayers and the Bible." (Jerome McGann). Hence, an interpretation of this poem through an allegorical lens would be an enlightening one considering the symbols...