Christina Rossetti



Christina Georgina Rossetti (December 5, 1830 – December 29, 1894) was an English poet and the sister of artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Quotes

 * Does the road wind up-hill all the way? Yes, to the very end. Will the day's journey take the whole long day? From morn to night, my friend.
 * Up-Hill, st. 1 (1861).


 * My heart is like a singing bird Whose nest is in a water'd shoot; My heart is like an apple-tree Whose boughs are bent with thick-set fruit.
 * A Birthday, st. 1 (1861).


 * The birthday of my life Is come, my love is come to me.
 * A Birthday, st. 2.


 * When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree: Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget.
 * Song, st. 1 (1862).


 * Remember me when I am gone away, Gone far away into the silent land.
 * Remember, l. 1-2 (1862).


 * Better by far you should forget and smile Than that you should remember and be sad.
 * Remember, l. 13-14.


 * 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.
 * Goblin Market, st. 28 (1862).


 * Oh roses for the flush of youth, And laurel for the perfect prime; But pluck an ivy branch for me Grown old before my time.
 * Song, st. 1 (1862).


 * In the bleak mid-winter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak mid-winter Long ago.
 * Mid-Winter, st. 1 (1872).


 * Who has seen the wind? Neither you nor I: But when the trees bow down their heads The wind is passing by.
 * Who Has Seen the Wind?, st. 2 (1872).


 * Sleeping at last, the trouble and tumult over, Sleeping at last, the struggle and horror past, Cold and white, out of sight of friend and of lover, Sleeping at last.
 * Sleeping at Last, st. 1 (1893).


 * Hope is like a harebell, trembling from its birth, Love is like a rose, the joy of all the earth, Faith is like a lily, lifted high and white, Love is like a lovely rose, the world’s delight. Harebells and sweet lilies show a thornless growth, But the rose with all its thorns excels them both.
 * Hope is like a Harebell; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).


 * All earth’s full rivers can not fill The sea that drinking thirsteth still.
 * By the Sea; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919); Old and New, Volume 5 (1872), p. 169.


 * One day in the country Is worth a month in town.
 * Summer; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).


 * Silence more musical than any song.
 * Sonnet. Rest; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).


 * Oh Lord, make thy law, I entreat thee, our delight.

Quotes about Christina Rossetti

 * (Another story inspired by a previous story was "Pico Rico Mandorico," the story of two sisters who escape the power of a devil figure. Wasn't that influenced by Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market"?) Yes, in fact my story is a prose rendition of the poem. I said so in the introduction to Sonatinas, the book in Spanish…I liked it so much I said, "I want to do my own version of this"... Writing is a lot like sewing: You bring pieces together and make a quilt. What brought me to Rossetti's story was a dirge, a little ditty called "Pico Rico Mandorico/Quién te dio tamaño pico?" ["Pico Rico, far and wide/leaves a mark where others hide"]. In this nursery rhyme there is a man dressed in black who comes to the house of a little girl. It's always on Sundays-that's very important. He has a very long nose and he spills everything on the table, so they have to cut off his nose. The man is really a devil, and he wants to steal the little girl and take her away with him. The Christina Rossetti story reminded me of the nursery rhyme, and I made a quilt of both.
 * Rosario Ferré interview in Backtalk: Women Writers Speak Out by Donna Marie Perry (1993)