Goblin Market Literary Devices

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Shahd Sherif Miss Melissa ELA Due April 8, 2014 Goblin Market “Goblin Market” is a Victorian third person narrative poem written by Christina Rossetti. While the poem could be taken as a simple fable, it addresses many complex themes brought up in the Victorian era. While doing this, Rossetti also uses a series of poetic devices. Overall, the poem is filled with themes, literary devices such as allegory, and reflects themes in the Victorian era. Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market” is a third person narrative fable. It can be called a fable because while it does not include animals, it does have a very prominent lesson. The poem is mainly written in third person, which makes Rossetti seem very distant from the story, because…show more content…
Rossetti uses allusion very heavily, as she alludes to the Bible many times. Rossetti herself was a very serious Christian, and this is further enhanced in her poem. Rossetti alluded to the forbidden fruit, “We must not look at goblin men, We must not by their fruits”, Adam and Eve knew not to eat the fruit, but just like Laura was tempted by the goblin men, Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent. Also, at the end of the poem, when Lizzie returned and Laura drank the fruit juice for the last time, Lizzie said, “hug me, kiss me, suck my juices squeezed from golden fruits for you, goblin pulp and goblin dew. Eat me, drink me, love me” which is holds great resemblance to Mathew 26:26, where it is written “Take and eat; this is my body”. In the bible, “Love me” is the most important command, as people should love God, and Lizzie displays Godly heroism (“Religion In Goblin Market”). Rossetti also uses the poetic device rhyme often; she uses is so often because the poem was initially a children’s poem ("Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market": An Overview"), “To cheer one on this tedious way, to fetch one if one goes astray”. Along with rhyming Rossetti uses repetition as a prominent poetic device, many times, “Come buy” was repeated, and many times was Lizzie’s warning to Laura repeated. This repletion shows that Laura was tempted in many times, and was also warned against such temptation many…show more content…
The meaning of the poem is extremely ambiguous, which leads to the variety of different themes and poetic devices. Rossetti’s writing has been known to reflect her life in the Victorian Era (Victorian Women Writer’s Project), and “Goblin Market” is no exception. Rossetti also wrote the poem in a third person narrative, which gave her the advantage of being distant, therefor adding to its effect as a fable. In general, the poem’s variety in writing tools helped add to its very strong message that could be a reflection of Rossetti’s

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