Christina Rossetti

Some Reminiscences of Christina Rossetti

William Sharp. The Atlantic Monthly. Volume 75, Issue 452, June 1895.

The Rossetti family lived at numerous addresses in the vicinity of the park. Christina was born in 1830 at 38 Charlotte Street (now Hallam Street), near Park Crescent.

I don't derive anything from the country at first hand! Why, my knowledge of what is called nature is that of the town sparrow, or, at most, that of the pigeon which makes an excursion occasionally from its home in Regent's Park or Kensington Gardens. And, what is more, I am fairly sure that I am in the place that best suits me.

In this essay published six months after the poet's death, Sharp recalls her reply to a questioner who asked whether she did not find her best inspiration in the country. Other reminiscences follow.

Her first real excitement, she declared once...was afforded by a visit she paid with [her brother] Gabriel to the Zoological Gardens. The two amused themselves, after their first vivid interest, by imagining the thoughts of the caged animals. Christina thought that the birds should be honored by plaintive verses, but Gabriel narrated such whimsical biographies of the birds and beasts that poetry gave way to fun. Distinct as the impression was, it was not so durably vivid as that of the walk of the two children, hand in hand, across the solitudes of Regent's Park, with a magnificent sunset which, Gabriel declared, he could see setting fire to the distant trees and roof-ridges.

It was about this time that Christina Rossetti had a dream, which Gabriel promised to depict, and send to the Academy. She dreamed that she was walking in Regent's Park at dawn, and that, just as the sun rose, she saw what looked like a wave of yellow light sweep from the trees. This wave was a multitude of canaries. Thousands of them rose, circled in a gleaming mass, and then dispersed in every direction. In her dream it was borne in upon her that all the canaries in London had met, and were now returning to their cages!

A Brief Memoir of Christina G. Rossetti

Ellen A. Proctor. SPCK, 1895.

I wonder if the spring-tide of this year
Will bring another spring both lost and dear;
If heart and spirit will find out their spring
Or if the world alone will bud and sing?...

The author quotes these lines from a volume of Christina's poems and adds that 'on the margin of this she wrote, "I was walking in the outer circle, Regent's Park, when the impulse or thought came to me".'

Christina Rossetti: A Biographical and Critical Study

Henry Thomas Mackenzie Bell. Hurst and Blackett, 1898.

it would be a mistake to think that Christina caught from Gabriel a fancy for odd-looking animals - She had it equally herself - She knew Wombat and Ratel at the Zoological Gardens...

Her brother William is quoted. Ratel, a type of badger, and Wombat are two of the animals featured in her poem, Goblin Market.

See also the William Rossetti entry.