English 2610 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Wolf Alice, Lewis Carroll, Goblin Market
Christina Rossetti (1830 - 1894)
She wrote poetry and children’s literature, with her most famous work being a long poem, “Goblin Market”.
She was part of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
1848 - She was in a group of English painters, artists, and writers that eschewed the 17th concept of artistic practice
based on classical techniques and forms. Women were excluded, but she was invited in, and some of her ideas did
influence what they did. They worked against classic modes of the day. They were trying to invoke their own
modernism.
Lewis Carroll had a lot of conversation with her. She brought her a pairing, and there was discussion about how some of her
work influenced him.
Speaking Likenesses (1873)
This story contains a lot of repetition. She is focused on the oral tradition in that she is telling the story to the
children. The story is literally of somebody telling a story, so it does get quite muddled.
It has a very cluttered narrative.
She constantly would interrupt herself.
Very scattered, and there are likenesses to Alice In Wonderland
There are differences between Flora and Edith
Is Speaking Likenesses a fairy tale?
Yes, because it is fictional. It is also set within an indefinite time frame, and various fairy tale figures come into
the story.
Does it have similar themes to All My Doing or Wolf Alice?
Learning, retelling of other fairy tales,
The Perspective of the child
The figure of the child within the narratives, changes in societal behaviours, and how culture
constructs the figure of the child. How culture encrypts them in certain ways. How the child is
seen in the culture, and perhaps how we let children have their voices.
How do the children describe themselves in the tale?
Flora describes the other children as awful creatures. She never describes herself. She has a sense of
superiority. She believes herself to be older than other children. She doesn’t want the party in the beginning.
Wants to be like a Queen, so she speaks like what she thinks one does, until she meets the Queen.
Edith believes herself wiser than her years, and superior. She thinks she is “not so very little”. Credibility is at
stake for both of them. In the beginning of the story, she is involved in labour, while Flora is playing. Perhaps a
gypsy child?
Our adult narrator does not describe our children. They are to given any sort of quality. This is interesting on
how our children our portrayed. There is no identity to them. If you can’t see yourself, then do you have a self?
If they don’t have an identity or sense of self, then somebody else will possess you if you do not posses
yourself. If you were taught as a child to be selfless, then you don’t have a sense of self.
What kind of games and situations do the children participate in?
The Pincushion Game
It requires a vicim, in which they are oppressed for the enjoyment of others.
If you are playing these kind of games, and children are reading this, then this is why mimicry and
imitation becomes important.
“The boys were players, the girls were played”
Children were oppressed, but the girls had it even worse. It constructs gender roles negatively.
The boys make the rules, and the girls have to play by the rules. There’s power in play.
Charms and Riddles
How do we begin to become disenchanted with ourselves and our constructs?
“What do I have in pocket” he said a loud. He was asking to himself.
vs. “Not fair! Not fair” Gollum hissed. “It isn’t fair my precious, is it, ro ask what its got in its nasty little pockets."
Quest Narratives
A quest is a journey with an end in mind
Eg. The Hobbit
It is something that we are familiar with because we are taught about it, and we don’t know about quest narratives for
women usually.
What do these texts show the reader about quest narratives?
Are there differences in terms of who gets to go on quests and who doesn’t?
Document Summary
She wrote poetry and children"s literature, with her most famous work being a long poem, goblin market . 1848 - she was in a group of english painters, artists, and writers that eschewed the 17th concept of artistic practice based on classical techniques and forms. Women were excluded, but she was invited in, and some of her ideas did influence what they did. They worked against classic modes of the day. They were trying to invoke their own modernism. Lewis carroll had a lot of conversation with her. She brought her a pairing, and there was discussion about how some of her work influenced him. She is focused on the oral tradition in that she is telling the story to the children. The story is literally of somebody telling a story, so it does get quite muddled. Very scattered, and there are likenesses to alice in wonderland.
