Goblin Market

First published in 1862, Goblin Market is Christina Rossetti's best-known poem: a phantasmagoric tale of two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, tempted by the cries of goblin merchants selling strange, irresistible fruit. When Laura eats the fruit and begins to waste away, Lizzie confronts the goblins herself to save her. Read variously as a Christian allegory, a study of Victorian anxieties around female sexuality and temptation, and above all a celebration of sisterly love and sacrifice, the poem remains one of the most widely anthologized works of Victorian literature. This edition is illustrated with Pre-Raphaelite paintings by Christina's brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti.