SOURCE: "The Potential of Sisterhood: Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market," in Victorian Poetry, Vol. 29, No. 1, Spring, 1991, pp. 63-78.

In the following essay, Casey studies the meaning of "sisterhood" in "Goblin Market," arguing that the term implies a variety of meanings and "potentially includes the experience of both sexes." Additionally, Casey examines the Victorian conception of the nature of sisterhood as popularized by the work of Florence Nightingale and suggests how Rossetti 's own work as a "sister" may have influenced her writing of "Goblin Market. "

"For there is no friend like a sister."

Critics of Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market" have long noted the prominence of "sisterhood" in this poem. In particular, feminist readings of the poem center on the sisterhood theme in an attempt to argue that Rossetti has created a world which deliberately excludes men. For these critics, the term "sisterhood" marks a reaffirmation of the potentialities of...