©NTPL/Derrick E. Witty
This image is of the poet Christina Rossetti, depicted in the imagined throes of a passionate rage. Her anger was caused by a bad review of her poetry in The Times (quoted on the left of the picture sideways). I decided to blog about this picture as it perfectly encapsulates my present mood, not that I am in any way endeavouring to compare myself to this marvelous poet, or suggesting that I intend to ransack my living room! It demonstrates the frustration I feel when I wish: my brain could work faster, my hands could type quicker and I could be a far better writer than I am. This humorous caricature depicting Christina was sketched by her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti in 1862, and shows Christina living up to the reputation she shared with her brother Dante in the Rossetti Family as the two 'storms'.
Whilst getting incredibly annoyed this afternoon my mind conjured up this image for me, a picture I am incredibly familiar with as it resides in my beloved dining room at Wightwick Manor. It is a drawing sure to garner chuckles from visitors; an emotion I'm sure is shared by my sister who looks at me rather perplexed and amused when I start banging the keys on the keyboard with great force and flouncing off to get a drink, muttering to myself.
However, I don't want to spend the whole of this post discussing my frustration, and instead want to implore those of you who are not familiar with Christina's Rossetti's poetry, to seek it out. I find great comfort and joy in her poetry, especially the fantastical nature of Goblin Market and the somber, poignant and beautiful, Remember.
Remember
By Christina Rossetti
Remember me when I am gone away,
Gone far away into the silent land;
When you can no more hold me by the hand,
Nor I half turn to go yet turning stay.
Remember me when no more day by day
You tell me of our future that you plann'd:
Only remember me; you understand
It will be late to counsel then or pray.
Yet if you should forget me for a while
And afterwards remember, do not grieve:
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
Yours, a lot less vexed,
Evalily Harlow xxx
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