Christina Rossetti (1830-1894) was born in London, one of four children of Italian parents. Rossetti is best known for her ballads and her mystic religious lyrics. Her poetry is marked by symbolism and intense feeling. Rossetti’s best-known work, Goblin Market and Other Poems, was published in 1862. The collection established Rossetti as a significant voice in Victorian poetry. By the 1880s, recurrent bouts of Graves’ disease made Rossetti an invalid, yet she continued to write. Christina Rossetti is increasingly being reconsidered a major Victorian poet. She has been compared to Emily Dickinson but the similarity is more in the choice of spiritual topics than in poetic approach.

[excerpted from https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/christina-rossetti]. Additional background on Christina Rossetti can be found at:  https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poets/detail/christina-rossetti