DOI: 10.5176/2251-3566_L318.334
Authors: Qingjun Li
Abstract: In the scholarship on Christina Rossetti, the relationship to her mother and the way in which her mother shaped her literary works, both in substance and form, has been insufficiently investigated. While early biographers of Christina and subsequent critics alike often mention that her mother played a role in fostering her mindset as well as her literary talent, there is as yet no sustained study of the various ways this influence expressed itself. In this essay, I use letters written by the Rossetti family, diaries, dedicatory remarks, poems written by Christina for her mother, and Christina’s most intriguing and original works as sources to provide the specific details necessary to an understanding of just where and how this influence manifested itself in Christina’s works in style, content, and sentiment. Particular attention is given to the influence of Frances Rossetti in Christina’s home schooling, their participation together for over 30 years in an intimate female circle of intellectuals, the development of her poetic style and use of images through intentional collaborations, the inversions and “feminist” understandings of religious and spiritual themes she obtains from her mother. The study concludes by revealing the ways in which Christina moved to relocate her own self-understanding and voice interchanging it with that of her mother.
Keywords: Christina Rossetti; mother-daughter; Victorian literature; feminism; authorial voice
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