Christina Rossetti (1830–94,) fully Christina Georgina Rossetti, was a leading Victorian Pre-Raphaelite woman poet. She wrote poems of love, fantasy, and nature, verses for children, and devotional poetry and prose.
Born in London, Rossetti had her grandfather print her pamphlet before she was in her teens. Her earliest lyrics were published in the first issue of the literary magazine The Germ (1850) under the pseudonym Ellen Alleyne.
Influenced by the Oxford Movement, Rossetti wrote abundant religious poetry reflecting her High Anglican faith, although she also wrote love poetry and children’s verse. Her notable works include Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862,) The Prince’s Progress and Other Poems (1866,) and Sing Song: A Nursery Rhyme Book (1872.)
Rossetti’s later works include A Pageant and Other Poems (1881,) Time Flies: A Reading Diary (1885,) and The Face of the Deep: A Devotional Commentary on the Apocalypse (1892.)
Rossetti was a sister of the poet and illustrator Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the critic William Michael Rossetti.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Christina Rossetti
For there is no friend like a sister
In calm or stormy weather;
To cheer one on the tedious way,
To fetch one if one goes astray,
To lift one if one totters down,
To strengthen whilst one stands.
—Christina Rossetti
Topics: Family, Weather, Friendship
Love came down at Christmas;
Love all lovely, love divine;
Love was born at Christmas,
Stars and angels gave the sign.
—Christina Rossetti
Topics: Christmas
For one man is my world of all the men this wide world holds; O love, my world is you.
—Christina Rossetti
Topics: World
Better by far you should forget and smile, than that you should remember and be sad.
—Christina Rossetti
Topics: Past, Reflection, Smile
A man is ever apt to contemplate himself out of all proportion to his surroundings.
—Christina Rossetti
Topics: Self-Discovery
For there is no friend like a sister in calm or stormy weather.
—Christina Rossetti
Can anything be sadder than work unfinished? Yes; work never begun.
—Christina Rossetti
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