Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Christina Rossetti’s work represents a variety of styles and genres, including the Victorian fairy tale. What are the characteristics of the Victorian fairy tale? For what other styles and genres is Rossetti known?

Teaching Suggestion: Scholars have applied a score of contextual lenses to Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market”; multiple contexts may be useful for preparing students to analyze the text. For example, Rossetti’s background with religion and her work rehabilitating women involved with sex work for reintegration into society informs potential readings of the poem. In addition to prompting the students to consider the poem’s place as a Victorian fairy tale, you may also broaden their understanding of “Goblin Market” as a fantasy and a narrative poem, and within a historical context as a product of 19th-century England.

• In “I Am Christina Rossetti” from The Common Reader, Second Series, 20th-century novelist Virginia Woolf analyzes the life of Christina Rossetti in honor of the poet’s 100th birthday. Part biographical analysis and part ode to Rossetti’s influence on the genre of poetry, Woolf does more than recount factual details about Rossetti’s life.