Goblin Market

Resistance:

‘Would not open lip from lip’

Contrast with Laura’s ‘sucked & sucked’

Euphemism ‘lip’ has errotic connotations, repetition emphasises resistance

Resistence:

‘One may lead a horse to water,
Twenty cannot make him drink.’

metaphor depicts the strength of personal and religious values

Sacrifice:

Eat me, drink me, love me; /

For your sake I have braved the glen’

‘Eat me’.. reference to M. ch26, bread breaking ‘take & eat, this is my body’

3 syntactically parallel short phrases

Sin / resistance:

‘White and golden Lizzie stood,
Like a lily in a flood,’

White = pure, ‘golden’ connotes value, placed at the start for emphasis - may suggest how resisting temptation gets you into heaven.

Lily = a symbol of religious purity, reference to Noah’s arc (pre-salvation)

Half-rhyme of ‘stood’ and ‘flood’

Sin / resistance

‘Like a fruit-crowned orange-tree
White with blossoms honey-sweet’

Orange tree = motif in Bible, associated with heaven and divinity, oranges represent fertility, highlighting Lizzie’s womanhood.

‘Honey sweet’ represents innocence, her religious identity is intact

Sisterhood:

‘Like two blossoms on one stem,
Like two flakes of new-fallen snow,
Like two wands of ivory’

Anaphora ‘like two’, a rhythmic, hypnotic syntactic parallel.

Ivory typically used to ward off evil and protect

Sisterhood:

‘Cheek to cheek and breast to breast
Locked together in one nest.’

Sister’s have reunited physically and spiritually (Laura’s salvation still to come)

As they may represent 2 metaphorical sides of 1 being, reflecting conflict between our inner desires and societies expectations.

Sin:

‘But sweet-tooth Laura spoke in haste:
"Good folk, I have no coin;’

‘sweet tooth’ = sexual curiosity and sin > ignorant to the dangers of the Goblin men

‘good folk’ represents an idealistic Victorian woman who is obedient

She is too young to have money, highlighting vulnerability

Sin:

‘You have much gold upon your head,’ /

‘She clipped a precious golden lock,
She dropped a tear more rare than pearl,’

Historically, women’s hair was precious, this is a metaphor for prostitution

‘pearl’= white and connotations of purity

‘dropped’ represents a fallen woman,

she is active (active verbs)

Bible also emphasises how precious pearls are

Sacrifice / sisterhood

‘Seemed knocking at Death's door:
Then Lizzie weighed no more /

But put a silver penny in her purse,’

‘Deaths door’, further mirrors Jeanie, prompts Lizzie to interfear

‘Silver penny’ = archaic term for vagina

Contrast Laura who had ‘no coin’, Lizzie is taking action

Sacrifice / sisterhood

‘Hugged her and kissed her;
Squeezed and caressed her;’

Sibilance builds: mimics serpent

Having to physically lure and use imperatives, suggesting she lacks interest > contrast Laura’s interaction

Sin:

‘No longer wagging, purring,' /

Grunting and snarling. /

Their looks were evil.’

Contrast to how they were originally presented

Animalistic imagery creates contrast

‘Purring’ = domestic animals > wild animals

Goblin men act as a metaphor for angry males when rejected

Sin:

‘Elbowed and jostled her, /

Tore her gown and soiled her stocking, /

Against her mouth to make her eat.

‘Elbowed and jostled’ = syndetic listing of physical aggression highlights the danger

Victorian women wore many layers, stocking was the closes to the skin, this would have shocked readers

Repetition of ‘her’, emphasises she is the victim and continued attack

Ends with the idea of rape, emphasised by end stop

Sin:

‘She sucked and sucked and sucked the more
Fruits which that unknown orchard bore;
She sucked until her lips were sore;’

Repetition of ‘sucked’ = transgression

‘Unknown Orchard’ a reference to Garden of Eden as Laura is tempted and falls

Triplet rhyme represents length and harm of transgression

Sin:

And knew not was it night or day
As she turned home alone.

Loss of time may reference addition to Laudanum: during this time it was cheaper than gin thus very accessible. Imports x4 from 1830 > 1860

May also suggest she is separated from the natural world

Ends on the idea of isolation, a lasting effect, emphasised by end-stop

Form

Irregular rhyme, ABAB rhyme

Broadly iambic tetrameter

Frequent enjambment

Context

1859> 29 yrs

Began working in St. Mary Magdalene’s Penitiary, expresses Rossetti’s feminist, homosexual politics and capitalist critique as at the time only wealthy people could buy ‘fresh fruit’

Also warning against addiction to Laudanum