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Rossetti/ Victorian England Context (Changes in Britain (During R's…
Rossetti/ Victorian England Context
Status of women
Women began to establish themselves + realised they needed equal rights - Many campaigns to try persuade parliament
R: compared the life of a wife to the life of a slave
R: men + women were created by God as fundamentally different. So they should have different rights/responsibilities
If a woman wasn't stereo-typically girl-like and innocent, they were seen as a threat (R challenges)
1860's she volunteered in a home of 'fallen women' (ex-prostitutes) women shouldn't be deemed outcasts for the rest of their lives. Uses the figure of Mary Magdalene to prove this.
Changes in Britain
During R's lifetime the population doubled
Rapid growth in R's London (financially)
R:
"England is full of luxuries + thronged by stinted poor"
Her use of vanity = the alluring but dangerous influences of the world
Like the Oxford movement/Tractarianism - tried to find ways of assisting the poor and comforting the broken-hearted
Crimean war (from 1853) - R applied to be a nurse
Pre-Raphelite Brotherhood
Founded by her brothers Dante + William
Modelled their work on the style of art/poetry that existed before 1483 (everything after that was too artificial)
All about representing nature truthfully
Conveying meanings employing symbolic/allegorical imagery
Published a periodical 'The Germ' presenting their artistic ideas
Tractarianism
Importance of ritual + ceremony
R's Tractarian attitude = the best way to understand the bible is to approach it as a 'live' text designed to help an individual grow as a christian
Poetry
The Oxford Movement used poetry as a means of expressing their Anglican beliefs
Interpreted the Bible through Typology (symbols + types)
Victorian Women's Poetry
They positioned themselves apart from their male contemporaries
Seen to be the creators of a feminine poetry characterised by the discussion of love, children, families + cultivated nature
Group called the 'Portfolio Society': a female poetic community
Key themes
Marriage - girls brought up to believe it was their duty to get married + have children. Taught domestic skills + trained to care for their family
The treatment of 'fallen women' - often explored the problem of categorising women as 'fallen'
Centrality of Christianity
19th Century England was predominantly Protestant
3 Strands: 1.The Evangelical Movement 2.The Oxford Movement 3.The Broad Church Movement
Roman Catholicism widely discredited
Romantic poetry
John Keats (romantic poet) influenced R
Imagination had previously been disregarded - all about reason or logical thinking
Convey a semi-religious response to the natural world
R was initially influenced by Romantic-Gothic fiction: the strange, weird + exotic