‘Thou Whole Burnt-Offering!’ The Mystical Ecstasy in Christina Rossetti’s Poems

Christina Rossetti has come to the wrong place: there is no answer. In order to while away the time, she will write poems which stage her one Passion for God, with whom she has fallen head over heels in love, more than with life itself, since she repulses men, whom she finds inadequate, in a Victori...

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Main Author: Bertrand Lentsch
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée 2009-04-01
Series:Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/cve/5849
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author Bertrand Lentsch
author_facet Bertrand Lentsch
author_sort Bertrand Lentsch
collection DOAJ
description Christina Rossetti has come to the wrong place: there is no answer. In order to while away the time, she will write poems which stage her one Passion for God, with whom she has fallen head over heels in love, more than with life itself, since she repulses men, whom she finds inadequate, in a Victorian society which yet allotted them pride of place, unwitting though it was of women, who were deemed redundant. These serial elegies chiselled by a bashful lover hence draw the graph of her desire to be possessed by a missing one, whose fullness she extols whilst dreading his potency. The horror of their ultimate encounter is lessened thereof, through the daily disclosures of her mystical climax, which is being dutifully registered as if it were a confession of powerlessness. However unassuming she then appears to be, such moments of great feeling are her delightful way of atoning for her sins.
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publisher Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée
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series Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
spelling doaj-art-cb85cfa35b40456d8a67c9e56eed0cfb2025-01-30T10:22:11ZengPresses Universitaires de la MéditerranéeCahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens0220-56102271-61492009-04-016910.4000/cve.5849‘Thou Whole Burnt-Offering!’ The Mystical Ecstasy in Christina Rossetti’s PoemsBertrand LentschChristina Rossetti has come to the wrong place: there is no answer. In order to while away the time, she will write poems which stage her one Passion for God, with whom she has fallen head over heels in love, more than with life itself, since she repulses men, whom she finds inadequate, in a Victorian society which yet allotted them pride of place, unwitting though it was of women, who were deemed redundant. These serial elegies chiselled by a bashful lover hence draw the graph of her desire to be possessed by a missing one, whose fullness she extols whilst dreading his potency. The horror of their ultimate encounter is lessened thereof, through the daily disclosures of her mystical climax, which is being dutifully registered as if it were a confession of powerlessness. However unassuming she then appears to be, such moments of great feeling are her delightful way of atoning for her sins.https://journals.openedition.org/cve/5849
spellingShingle Bertrand Lentsch
‘Thou Whole Burnt-Offering!’ The Mystical Ecstasy in Christina Rossetti’s Poems
Cahiers Victoriens et Edouardiens
title ‘Thou Whole Burnt-Offering!’ The Mystical Ecstasy in Christina Rossetti’s Poems
title_full ‘Thou Whole Burnt-Offering!’ The Mystical Ecstasy in Christina Rossetti’s Poems
title_fullStr ‘Thou Whole Burnt-Offering!’ The Mystical Ecstasy in Christina Rossetti’s Poems
title_full_unstemmed ‘Thou Whole Burnt-Offering!’ The Mystical Ecstasy in Christina Rossetti’s Poems
title_short ‘Thou Whole Burnt-Offering!’ The Mystical Ecstasy in Christina Rossetti’s Poems
title_sort thou whole burnt offering the mystical ecstasy in christina rossetti s poems
url https://journals.openedition.org/cve/5849
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