The Biblical Typology of Christina Rossetti by Elizabeth Ludlow
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University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/1993 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. ‘We can but spell a surface history’: The Biblical Typology of Christina Rossetti By Elizabeth Ludlow A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English University of Warwick Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies October 2008 Acknowledgments I am very grateful to my supervisor, Emma Francis, for the support and guidance that she has given me throughout this project. I would also like to thank Zoë Brigley for her invaluable friendship which has helped make my time at Warwick enjoyable. My thanks also to Thomas Docherty, John Holmes, Margaret Flett, Emma Mason, Rhian Williams, and Madeleine Wood for the interest they have taken in my work and for the comments and suggestions that they have made. My research has been funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. I would also like to acknowledge the help of the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies at the University of Warwick. My thanks also to St. Deiniol’s Library for an invaluable two week residential scholarship, to the British Association of Victorian Studies for two conference related bursaries, and to those at the 2007 North American Victorian Studies Association conference for their encouragement. My biggest thanks is due to my family, Sandra, Gordon, and Annette for their ongoing love and their continued willingness to help me in so many ways. I would finally like to thank all my wonderful friends for their support. I would especially like to thank Ruth Lockyer and Rebecca Rolls for having helped make Leamington my home for the past three years. Declaration This thesis is my own work. It has not been submitted for a degree at another university. A small portion of the introduction (pp. 12-13), has appeared in a different form in my chapter, ‘Christina Rossetti and the Bible’ in The Blackwell Companion to the Bible in English Literature, ed. by Christopher Rowland, Emma Mason, Rebecca Lemon, and Jonathon Roberts (Oxford: Blackwell, 2008). Contents Thesis Abstract iv List of Abbreviations v Note on the Text vi Introduction 1 Chapter 1: ‘What is time?’: Articulating the ‘Distended’ Self through Eschatology 21 Chapter 2: The Identity of the Bride of Christ 80 i. The Typological Realisation of the Virgin Mary 81 ii. The Nun as the Bride of Christ 115 Chapter 3: Reading ‘From House to Home’ as a Mystical Experience 134 i. Ineffibility 142 ii. Noetic qualities 155 iii. Transiency and Passivity 175 Chapter 4: Moving beyond Eden: The Typology of the Christian Journey 184 i. ‘Speed me with a song’: The impetus of Liturgy 185 ii. ‘A garden in a garden’: A typological reading of Rossetti’s enclosed gardens 204 Chapter 5: Multiple Reflections: The ‘deep surface’ of Rossetti’s Sonnet Sequences 222 i. ‘Not as she is but as she fills his dream’: Negotiating the Pre- Raphaelite Epipsyche 227 ii. Beyond the looking glass: Hermeneutical understandings of true feminine attractiveness 246 Afterward: ‘For ever One, the Same and Manifold’ 263 Bibliography 266 Thesis Abstract ‘We can but spell a surface history’: The Biblical Typology of Christina Rossetti My research examines Christina Rossetti’s use of biblical typology in her articulation of individual and communal identity. The central concern of my thesis is with tracing the ways in which she bridges the gap between the two biblical covenants and her contemporary situation by a ceaseless interpretative movement between the discourses of the Old and New Testaments. After examining the basis for her typological modes of reading, I demonstrate the various ways in which they underpin her interpretations of Tractarian, Romantic, and Pre-Raphaelite writings as well as providing her with a framework with which to structure her own poetic sequences. In my examination of the ways in which Rossetti engages with patristic and medieval theology and articulates identity through the cyclical dynamics of typology, I consider her writings alongside those of Isaac Williams, John Keble, John Henry Newman, and Edward Pusey and highlight the key part they play in reinforcing the Oxford Movement’s liturgical momentum. Focusing specifically on her poetic utilization of the ancient practice of chanting psalms and antiphons, her engagement with the musicality of the church service, and her depiction of the visual aspects of ritualism, I read her poetry in terms of the mystical journey towards God upon which, she suggests, each Christian embarks. Applying to Rossetti’s poetry the method of typological analysis that she herself uses, I consider how the poems in her 1893 volume, Verses, can be understood to comment upon her earlier works and how her earlier poetry can be seen as an antecedent to her later works. Through this, I trace the development of her theology as it engages more directly with the hermeneutical principles encouraged by the Tractarians and offers a basis upon which the patristic concept of trinitarian personhood can be understood. List of Abbreviations The following abbreviations are used parenthetically in the text for frequently cited works by Christina Rossetti. Letters The Letters of Christina Rossetti, 4 volumes, ed. by Antony H. Harrison (Charlottesville; London: University Press of Virginia, 1997-2004) CP Christina Rossetti: The Complete Poems, Text by R.W. Crump, Notes and Introduction by Betty S. Flowers (London: Penguin, 2001) WMR The Poetical Works of Christina Georgina Rossetti, with Memoir and Notes, ed. by William Michael Rossetti (London: Macmillian & co., 1904) FD The Face of the Deep: A devotional Commentary on the Apocalypse (London: SPCK, 1892) TF Time Flies: A Reading Diary (London: SPCK, 1885) LS Letter and Spirit: Notes on the Commandments (London and Brighton: SPCK, 1883) CS Called to Be Saints, The Minor Festivals Devotionally Studied (London: SPCK, 1881) SF Seek and Find: A Double Series of Short Studies of the Benedicite (London: SPCK, 1879) AD Annus Domini: A Prayer for Each Day of the Year (London: James Parker & Co., 1874) Note on the Text Notwithstanding my investigations into Rossetti’s biblical hermeneutics, this thesis has been written as a work of literary scholarship. As such, the theological terminology used corresponds with the terminology familiar to Christina Rossetti and the writers of the Tractarian movement rather than with that of contemporary theologians. Following the pattern of Rossetti’s devotional prose, all the biblical passages I have quoted are, unless stated otherwise, taken from the King James Version and the Psalms are taken from the Prayer Book Psalter. 1 Introduction Recognising the affinity that exists between the hermeneutical practice of typology and the development of poetic structures, this thesis traces the various ways through which Christina Rossetti’s devotional and non-devotional poetry works to bridge the gap between the Old and the New Testament. Throughout my investigation of how Rossetti finds and generates meaning in the space between the various books of Scripture so as to fashion various models of subjectivity, I do a combination of three things. First I analyse how, through a variety of poetical techniques, she engages with the various models of identity offered in Scripture. Next, I explore and define the mysticism inherent in her writings. Finally, I trace her development as a poet and theologian and investigate her increasingly theological engagement with the models of trinitarian personhood offered by the patristic Fathers. Exploring the interrelation that exists between Rossetti’s habits of poetic composition and her method of typological thinking, I suggest that all of her devotional writings are a product of her Christian faith. As such, I emphasise the characteristics that they share with the books of the Bible and the patristic elements of male Tractarianism. In her 1856 poem, ‘A Christmas Carol for my Godchildren’ (CP, p. 792- 794) Rossetti conflates the ‘star’ (line 2) which, according to Matthew, led the wise men to the infant Jesus (Matthew 2:9) with the illumination that she believes is offered to each individual by the Holy Spirit. Demonstrating her adherence to Peter’s instruction to ‘take heed’ of the ‘sure word’ of prophecy until ‘the day star arise in your hearts’ (2 Peter 1:19), she compares her ‘life’ to the ‘journey’ of the wise men and ‘their star’ to ‘God’s Book’ (lines 37-8). In her 2 1874 book, Annus Domini: A Prayer for Each Day of the Year, she repeats her typological interpretation of the star of the nativity when she prays, O LORD Jesus Christ, the Bright and Morning Star, as once by a star Thou didst lead the Wise Men unto the sure mercies of David, so now by Thine Illuminating Spirit guide us, I pray Thee, to Thyself: that we with them, and by the Grace of the same Most Holy Spirit, may offer unto Thee gold of love, frankincense of adoration, and myrrh of self-sacrifice. Amen. (prayer no. 366) I want to suggest that Rossetti’s practice of calling her readers to join together and obediently follow ‘Thine illuminating Spirit’ serves as the central impetus behind her devotional prose and poetry. By confidently expressing the notion that the ‘same Most Holy Spirit’ who led the wise men guides the lives of each individual believer, she underscores her particular method of typology whereby she reads Biblical history in relation to the immediacy of the Kingdom of God.