“Goblin Market” By Christina Rossetti
After rereading through all of the poems that we were given I landed on the “Goblin Market” for my essay. After reading it for the second time, something more popped out at me that didn’t the first time through. The poem is a way to teach the reader to avoid temptation, but also teaches us about love and loyalty.
The story of this poem is about two sisters, Lizzie and Laura, who in the beginning are both tempted by the goblins who are selling their goods. The goblins use many magical words to get the girls to come buy their goods such as “Plump unpeck'd cherries,” (Rossetti line 7). This puts the image of big, red, luscious cherries in the girls’ minds so they want to come down and buy them. All the images that the goblins paint in the girls’ heads are of the many types of fruits that are rich and colorful. This use of imagery also makes us, the reader, picture the fruit and make our own mouth water as we read what the goblins say. All day, every day, in the sunshine or bad weather, the goblins are out there, placing these images into peoples head in the hopes that they will lure at least one person into buying their forbidden fruit. Just like in the Garden of Eden, how the fruit looked so delicious to Eve, this fruit looks the same to Laura and Lizzie. Both fruits are spotless, perfect, the most amazing thing that they have to have, yet the most dangerously tempting, it’s forbidden.
Even though the two sisters are very close, they are completely apart. Lizzie is wise, whereas Laura is willing. Laura knows that these goblins wish to trick them,
"We must not look at goblin men,
We must not buy their fruits:
Who knows upon what soil they fed
Their hungry thirsty roots?" (Rossetti, lines 42-45). Yet she wishes to view the mysterious goblin men who are selling these illicit fruits that she so desires to have. Lizzie chooses to neither look at the little goblin men nor listen to their dangerous words. "Oh," cried Lizzie, "Laura, Laura,
You should not peep at goblin men."
Lizzie cover'd up her eyes,” (Rossetti, lines 48-50). You can hear the disappointment in Lizzie’s voice by the tone that Rossetti used in writing those lines.
Rossetti describes the goblin men in a way that you as the reader are able to see them in your imaginary eye. “One had a cat's face,
One whisk'd a tail,
One tramp'd at a rat's pace,
One crawl'd like a snail,
One like a wombat prowl'd obtuse and furry,
One like a ratel tumbled hurry skurry.
She heard a voice like voice of doves” (lines 71-77). These place the images of the goblin men of how scary they are yet tempting because the girls have never seen anything like them before. Laura’s resistance grows weaker and weaker with every line Rossetti writes, and she finally gives in. “Like a vessel at the launch
When its last restraint is gone” (lines 85-86). The goblins realize that she is a much easier target for the temptation than her sister Lizzie is, so they focus their intentions onto her. Once approached, she is offered their fruit, but for a price. She has no means of money, no gold in her purse, nor silver either, but they do not care for she has the golden hair. They offer her a trade in which they hope she cannot resist, a piece of their fruit for a lock of her golden curls. Her hair represented her innocence, and when she cut it to get the fruit by which she was drawn, she shed just one precious tear which Rossetti compared to a pearl. Once she gets the fruit she dives in to devour it. “She suck'd until her lips were sore;
And knew not was it night or day
As she turn'd home alone” (lines 136, 139, 140). She then got up, and made her return journey home.
When she returns home Lizzie is waiting for her but not without a warning. She asks her if she remembers their friend Jeanie, her sister replies that she does but basically blows it off as if to say that that same thing won’t happen to her. Laura tells Lizzie the next day on their normal routine that she will go find the goblin men again, buy more fruit, and this time bring them home to Lizzie so she too can taste the amazing fruit. “Listening ever, but not catching
The customary cry,
"Come buy, come buy," (lines 230-232). Laura was not able to hear the goblins rhyme to come buy the dangerous fruit because she had already fallen to their temptations, but Lizzie was able to hear them still. Laura is almost upset at the fact that her sister can still hear the calls where as she can’t. She fears that she’s going deaf or blind, but decided to go to bed with Lizzie and wait until she falls asleep before she gets up again to cry so her sister does not hear her heart break. “And gnash'd her teeth for baulk'd desire, and wept
As if her heart would break” (lines 267-268), you can feel her sadness with the imagery pouring out of these words.
“Tender Lizzie could not bear
To watch her sister's cankerous care” (lines 299-300) you can feel how sorry Lizzie is for her sister and knows that she must do something if she wants to save her from dying too young. This is where the love and loyalty comes into play in the poem. Lizzie braves going down to the goblin men to buy their forbidden fruit so her sister may have some and life longer. What she doesn’t intend on is the fact that the goblin men want her to eat their fruit with them, and when she refuses they attack her. After the attack, she went back home with everything that was smashed against her to give to her sister. “Come and kiss me.
Never mind my bruises,
Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices,” (lines 466-468) these lines made me smile because I could feel Lizzie’s happiness radiating from them. She had done it, she got the fruit her sister had wanted so dearly without eating it herself. Laura licked Lizzie from head to foot getting all the fruit and its juices off.
This poem is a great read. Rossetti used enchanted words to make the story pop from the writing without losing the reader. My favorite line, the line in which ties the whole thing together is this, “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." (lines 562-567). Rossetti used the whole poem, the temptation, Laura giving in, Lizzie going to save her, and their undying sisterly love for each other to write these lines to tie the whole poem together. It’s a perfect conclusion to a great a story. Work Cited
Rossetti, Christina. "BlackBoard ." University of Toronto . Fisher Rare Book
Library, 1997. Web. 15 Sept. 2011. <https://lbblackboard.yc.edu/webapps/ portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_38701_1%26url%3D>.
Questions that I need help with: After rereading the essay it seems to make since to me but at the same time seems really long, if you could look at it and see if there's anything I could take out and get away with that would be great! Also, I'm horrible at the introduction paragraph and the conclusion paragraphs, some tips on those would be great!! Thanks!!
