Born: December 5, 1830, in London, England
Died: December 29, 1894, in London, England
Christina Rosetti's father was a political refugee. He settled in England where he became a professor of Italian at King's College at the University of London. She was educated at home by her mother and began writing poetry when she was quite young. Her poems were first published by her grandfather with limited circulation.
Christina was the sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Rossetti. She shared their intellectual interests, and her work often appeared in her brother William's magazine, The Germ. However, she is not considered part of the Pre- Raphaelite movement with which they are associated.
In her lifetime, Rossetti produced only a small quantity of work, consisting primarily of short lyrics. She wrote nine hundred poems in English and approximately sixty in Italian. Goblin Market and Other Poems, her first volume of poetry, was published in 1862. She published only four more volumes during her career, including The Prince's Progress and Other Poems, published in 1866.
As a devout Anglican, her works were often religious in nature. Earlier in life she had turned away two male admirers because their religious beliefs were unsuitable.
During the 1860s she worked at a home for distressed women. For the last fifteen years of her life, Rossetti lived as a recluse. She suffered from Grave's disease and died of cancer.