Christina Rossetti + Goblin Market

Christina Rossetti was an English poet whose poems contained much religious symbolism and connotations. This deep religious influence may have come from her childhood, where poverty and depression steered her towards becoming involved in the Anglo-Catholic movement, which developed into the Church of England. Religion then played a huge part in Rossetti's life, which is probably why her poems contain many religious related ideas.

One of the poems she wrote that could be interpreted to contain religious symbolism is Goblin Market. We are bombarded with a list of fruit at the start of the poem, with various descriptions that make the fruit sound appealing. This could be linked to how Eve is tempted by the devil into eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge. This could also mean that fruit in the poem represents temptation, and temptation can lead to doing bad things such as stealing, or in this case eating the fruit.

Other religious ideas that could be taken from Goblin Market are how "eating the fruit" is like giving in to temptation. In this case, giving in to temptation leads to bad health, which shows that it was wrong to give in. This could show that Rossetti believes that you should not give in to temptation, and due to the sexual implications in Goblin Market, it could be assumed that Rossetti is referring to giving in to sex as a sin.