On this day in 1830 Christina Rossetti was born. Her still-growing reputation as one of the best English women poets is based largely on two collections, Goblin Market and Other Poems (1862), and The Prince's Progress and Other Poems (1866); her Sing-Song: a Nursery Rhyme Book (1872, 1893) is also highly-ranked among Victorian children's books. Part of her fascination comes from her personal life, especially as lived on the outer circles of brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. He promoted, edited and illustrated her poetry, but she rejected his lifestyle as too busy and glaring: "Beautiful, delightful, noble, memorable, as is the world you and yours frequent," she wrote her brother, "I yet am well content in my shady crevice -- which crevice enjoys the unique advantage of being to my certain knowledge the place assigned me ... FULL STORY »
