Letter and Spirit: The Devotional Poetry and Prose of Christina Rossetti For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 1 Corinthians 13:12 Dinah Roe University College London, PhD, 2003 ProQuest Number: 10015827 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10015827 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT Tom Paulin recently commented on Christina Rossetti’s devotional poems: ‘Although it is helpful to know the biblical sources of these lines, I do not think that they, and indeed most of Rossetti’s poetry, are helped by that knowledge’. Despite advances made by feminist critics in the rediscovery and rehabilitation of Rossetti, there remains a critical reluctance to address the role of religion, and specifically of her reading of the bible, in the career of this famously devout poet. The purpose of my project is to demonstrate the effects of religious reading (both the reading of religious texts, and the religious reading of texts) to Rossetti’s poetry and thought. My thesis suggests that Rossetti’s lifelong practice of religious reading significantly affected her own writing, and the way she responded to the literary and aesthetic movements with which she came into contact - notably Romanticism, Pre-Raphaelitism, and the Tractarian movement, all of them the subject of chapters in my thesis. I also discuss her relationship with Dante as poet and precursor, and the questions his work raised for her of translation, allusion, and the relevance of poetry both to contemporary life and to God. The thesis places strong emphasis on Rossetti’s devotional prose as an intrinsic part of her achievement as a writer. Works such as Time Flies, Letter and Spirit, and The Face of the Deep combine biblical exegesis and autobiography in an attempt to make sense of the complex relationship of God to man and nature, and as a way of negotiating the equally complex task of representing their relationship in language. In both prose and poetry, Rossetti invites her reader to engage with a sophisticated network of biblical allusion, in which Christian doctrine is re-thought and sometimes re-forged. Unless we take this invitation seriously, the thesis argues, we will not take the true measure of Rossetti. Contents Abstract..................................................................................................................................... ii Contents...............................................................................................................................iii-iv Acknowledgements.................................................................................................................. v Preface............................................................................................................................... vi-xiii Note on Texts.................................................................................................................. xiv-xvi 1. Ont of Sight, In Mind’: The Tractarian Influence.................................................1-36 2. Decayed Branches from a Strong Stem’: Rossetti’s Keatsian Heritage.......................................................................................... 37-81 Rossetti’s ‘Amor Mundi ’ and Keats's ‘Where be ye going, you Devon maid?’ ............................................................37-42 Pre-Raphaelite and Romantic Tensions in Rossetti’s Early Poetry .............................42-69 Rossetti and Melancholy.................................................................................................. 69-81 3. ‘Great Love and Long Study’: Dante, Petrarch, and Manna Innominata..................................................................82-143 History of Rossetti family and Dante ............................................................................ 82-84 ‘Romantic’ and ‘Victorian’ Dante ..................................................................................84-93 Christina Rossetti and Beatrice....................................................................................93-101 Monna Innominata: The Preface................................................................................101-106 Monna Innominata: The Poem...................................................................................106-143 4. A Courteous Tilt in the Strong-Minded Woman Lists’: Rossetti, St. Paul, and Women..................................................................................144-200 Critical Survey ......................................................................................................... 144-156 Rossetti and St. Paul ................................................................................................ 156-165 Rossetti and Female Suffrage ..................................................................................165-170 Imagination and Responsibility ..............................................................................170-174 Rossetti and Eve ........................................................................................................174-184 Rossetti and Old Testament Women ....................................................................... 184-200 5. Spiritual Autobiography inTime Flies: A Reading Diary............................... 201-241 The Conflict Between Religious Authority and Spiritual Humility ..................... 205-215 Reconciling Artistic and Spiritual Responsibility ................................................. 215-229 Typology ...................................................................................................................229-23 8 Time and Eternity .................................................................................................... 238-241 6. Pattern and Textbook: Earth and Heaven inThe Face of the Deep............................................................242-274 Concluding Remarks..................................................................................................275-276 Works Consulted........................................................................................................ 277-288 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My gratitude is owed, first and foremost, to my parents, without whose example I never would have dared to attempt this project. Their continued emotional and financial support amounts to more than I can ever repay, but I will do my best. I should also thank the newest member of my family, James Kidd, for marrying me in the middle of both of our dissertations. His assistance on the poetry and letters of Keats was invaluable, as were his many intangible contributions to my life, work, and heart. Darren Cohen’s frequent flying visits deserve a mention, as they kept me going, along with our many trips to the BBC. The assistance of Paul Lancaster was much needed and endlessly appreciated, as were his encouragement and company. David Shelley was an incredible source of support from the beginning when I was a stranger to London. He has also given me more free meals during this process than I dare to contemplate, for which he has my undying gratitude. I also value tremendously the consistent help, sound advice, and editorial eagle eye of Danny Karlin. I would also like to thank him for telling me that scholarship is a worthy occupation, and then proving it. The British Library, Senate House Library, and in particular the wondrous London Library, were very generous in allowing me access to the best resources and most helpful staff that London has to offer. The patience and expertise of the staff at the UCL computer helpdesk is also gratefully acknowledged. For their financial assistance, I would like to thank the Graduate Fellowship Committee at Vassar College and the Overseas Research Student Awards Scheme. Thanks is also due to the English Department at UCL for giving me the opportunity to write about Rossetti. PREFACE The critical neglect of Rossetti’s devotional work is attributable to several causes involving both publishing history and critical reception in the century following the poet’s death in 1894. The first, and perhaps the most influential factor, is the lack of availability of her devotional prose works. Without easy access to these works, most readers are denied the opportunity to discover the ways in which Rossetti’s nineteenth-century status as a religious writer and spiritual person affected her view of poetry in general and her poems in particular. Although Rossetti herself collected the poems written for her prose-works in a separate volume {Verses, 1893) there is much to be gained from reading them in context. The ideology and aesthetics of these poems are often explained and contextualized by the prose passages following or preceding them, in which Rossetti tries to work out the complex relationships between God, nature, mankind, and art. Through the movement between prose and poetry, we catch a glimpse of the