Poet Spotlight: Christina Rossetti

Kelly at Big A Little A started "Poetry Friday" not long ago, and I thought it might be fun to feature not just a poem but a poet. This week, I've chosen the Victorian poet Christina Rossetti, whose Sing-Song collection has enchanted my children for years.

You can read about Rossetti here.

Read her provocative poem "Goblin Market" here.

Read Sing-Song here.

Here's one of Beanie's favorites:

Growing in the vale
By the uplands hilly,
Growing straight and frail,
Lady Daffadowndilly.

In a golden crown,
And a scant green gown
While the spring blows chilly,
Lady Daffadown,
Sweet Daffadowndilly.

And, in honor of Good Friday:

Beneath Thy Cross

AM I a stone, and not a sheep,
That I can stand, O Christ, beneath thy cross,
To number drop by drop Thy Blood's slow loss,
And yet not weep?

Not so those women loved
Who with exceeding grief lamented Thee;
Not so fallen Peter weeping bitterly;
Not so the thief was moved;

Not so the Sun and Moon
Which hid their faces in a starless sky,
A horror of great darkness at broad noon--
I, only I.

Yet give not o'er,
But seek Thy sheep, true Shepherd of the flock;
Greater than Moses, turn and look once more
And smite a rock.

---

Tags: Christina Rossetti

Comments

[Alice]

Beautiful, as always, Lissa, thank you, especially for the Good Friday poem.

[Kelly]

I'm with Beanie. Love the Daffadowndilly poem :)

[Meredith]

We love Rossetti here too! Thanks for the links she's our next poet after E. Dickinson!

[Jared]

Thank you thank you for posting 'Beneath Thy Cross'. It's one of my favoritest poems, and I get chills when I read it.

Thou who didst hang upon a barren tree,
My God, for me;
Tho' I till now be barren, now at length,
Lord, give me strength
To bring forth fruit to Thee.

(From Long Barren, by Christina Rossetti.)