Goblin Market

The English Countryside by London. This is a place where much can happen in the literary community. And this fact is no different for Christina Rossetti and her creation of Goblin Market which seems to be set in this area of the world, even though the specific location is fictional. This poem, though, is set in an unnamed fairytale countryside at an unspecified time. While that may be the case, the poem does seem to take place in a fantasy universe that is meant to be seen as a parallel of our own. The world of Goblin Market seems to be set in a place meant to represent an idyllic English countryside with the fantastical elements of a fairy tale. Except, unlike the English countryside we know, in Rossetti’s London, there are no men; just women and goblins.

Parent Map

Victorian Illustrated Books Map

Coordinates

Latitude: 51.507350900000
Longitude: -0.127758300000

Timeline of Events Associated with Goblin Market

Date Event Manage
circa. 1911 to circa. 1914

Feminist Movement and Goblin Market

Goblin Market was written by Christina Rossetti and originally published in 1862. Since then, it has gone through many reprints and changes. The reprint in 1912, while published after Rossetti’s death, was still released at a time of great change for women. During this time, the Suffragette movement was up and well in London. During the year of this edition’s release, the Labour Party became the first political party to include female suffrage in their manifesto. While this reprint could easily be tossed aside as just another children’s poem, the protagonists encounter sexually suggestive situations. This, and other 20th century adaptations of this poem, have opened the poem to Feminist, Queer, and New Historicist critiques. During this time of the Suffragette movement, there was a big movement for the rise of women in politics and positions of power. This was a voting year as well in the US and, for the first time, all presidential candidates looked at women as important to a victory rather than a passing thought. And, of course, at this time Tarrant releasing a reprint of a feminist poem with female protagonists will have an effect, whether intentional or not. All through the streets of London, women were marching for their rights to participate, to have a vote.

Sources:

Paula Bartley, Votes for Women, 1860-1928 (Oxon, 2003), p. 85.

British Library Learning. “Women’s Suffrage Timeline.” The British Library, 2018, www.bl.uk/votes-for-women/articles/womens-suffrage-timeline, https://www.bl.uk/votes-for-women/articles/womens-suffrage-timeline.