Goblin Market
Christina Rossetti
Batsford 2021
Hb, 96pp, £12.99, ISBN 978184994694
Let’s start with new editions of three older books. Christina Rossetti, a sister of Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, was regarded as one of the greatest British poets of her day; her long poem is a classic of folk horror. Laura, succumbing to temptation to eat the goblins’ forbidden fruit, becomes mortally ill; her sister Lizzie, in an act of near self-sacrifice, goes into the dangerous heart of the goblins’ realm in order to save her. The poem has multiple allegorical interpretations: moral, spiritual, feminist, lesbian. The language is stunning, at times luscious, even erotic, at times scary. It’s been illustrated in the past by the poet’s, it’s a must-read.
