Goblin_Market

Goblin Market Nearly all of the objects and characters in Christina Rosssetti’s poem “Goblin Market” are symbolic of theories or ideas from the Christian religion. Through careful analysis of the poem, religious symbols become clear and can be seen by any wary reader. In fact, the symbolism in this poem is so abundant that there appears to be two stories within the framework of one poem. The first story in the poem is one that is read by the words alone. Its subject matter is up front and will be outlined first in the paper. However, the second story is deeper and must be read analytically using the physical objects and characters as symbols for religious imagery and theme. In the first stanza the reader encounters the goblin’s cry, “Come buy our orchard fruits,/ come buy, come buy…” First of all, the reader must ask: “who are these goblins'”, “what is the cost to buy their fruits'” and “what fruits are they selling'”. Within the next stanza the reader meets Laura and Lizzie, two sisters wandering around in the evening watching goblin men. To be more precise, Laura is watching the goblins laura, fruit, lizzie, goblin, men, reader, poem, goblins, sin, buy, symbolic, two, temptation, juices, home, first, story, soul, sister, religious, however, come, characters, after, within, watching, wander, throughout, symbols, stanza, sisters, selling, rules, rossetti’s, read, one, old, objects, night, next, must, led, land, jeanie, imagery, human, hiding, hear, health, hair