The Fallen Woman

In lesson we were talking about the fallen woman, who is a woman who has had sex before marriage and is socially cast aside in shame. We first read 'The Decieved Girl,' which is about a traditional fallen woman, who is shamed and called a whore and no longer a part of society because of this. We then read Cousin Kate by Christina Rossetti.
Cousin Kate is the story of a woman who falls in love with a Lord and sleeps with him, even though they are not married. She is then forgotten when the lord sees the speakers cousin, Kate, who is more beautiful than the speaker. He then marries Kate and even though they have both done the same thing (slept with the Lord,) the speaker is called a whore and Cousin Kate is called pure, because she is married.
Cousin Kate is different from a traditional fallen woman story, because the speaker is in power at the end, as she has a son who will inherit their families land and it is made out  by Rossetti that Cousin Kate is unable to have children. The speaker shows pride and strength at the end and she doesn't seem to be as bothered as other fallen women would be by what has happened to her. This is another feminist poem by Rossetti, which seems to be a running theme in her poems.

Goblin Market - Other Interpretations

In lesson today we were listening to each other ideas about the different interpretations of Goblin Market. These are the other interpretations spoke about (Erotic, Feminist, Marxist and Moral.)
Erotic
The group mentioned how 'unpicked cherries' could symbolise Lizzie and Lauras virginity and how the fruit could symbolise temptation. I think the strongest arguement, is the symbolism of prostitution and rape. When Laura sells her hair, it could be symbolising her selling herself (prostitution) for the fruit. Towards the end, when Lizzie sacrifices herself for Laura and they try and force her to eat the fruits could be the idea of the goblins attempting to rape Lizzie. In this interpretation, Lizzie is portrayed as strong, as she refuses to let the goblins rape her 'would not open lip from lip.'
Feminist
In the feminist view, Lizzie is the hero as she saves her sister. There is the sisterly love between Lizzie and Laura and the idea is that their relationship is pure and intimate, which in the poem is a complete contrast with the relationship between a man and woman, which is very violent. The feminist view that Christina Rossetti wrote portrays the goblins as very animalistic and evil, and just wanting to feed the women the fruit. The view says that the goblin men break the bond between Lizzie and Laura, by tempting Laura to eat the fruit. Rossetti also says the line 'stamped on her tender feet' contrasting the men (violent) and women (soft and vunerable.)
Marxist
This interpretation is the idea of consumerism and trade. The strongest arguement in this interpretation is the trickery of the goblins, as she sells herself for the fruit, but it is never enough and never satifies, as the person eating becomes addicted. It also mentions about the bad side of trade, they beat Lizzie and try to force her to eat the fruit.
Moral
The main point in this interpretation I believe is that Lauras choices (eating the fruit) affects Lizzie (she sacrifices herself and is beaten up.) The moral message of the poem is that if you get married it will cleanse your soul and also there is a connection between one of the stanzas and the vow you make when you marry someone. The moral interpretation has large links to Christianity, such as Adam and Eve with the forbidden fruit (Lizzie and Laura and the goblin juice) and Lizzie being beaten up is parallel to Jesus' cruxifiction.
I believe the strongest interpretations are feminist and redemptive, because they have the strongest arguements.

Interpretations

Last lesson, we were talking about the various interpretations of Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti there is. There was erotic, feminist, marxist, redemptive and moral interpretations and I was put in the redemptive group.
We spoke about how Laura has to redeem herself to Lizzie, as Lizzie is the one who sacrifices herself (she gets beaten up by the goblins) for her sisters temptation and addiction. This means Lizzie saved Lauras life and Laura has to redeem herself to Lizzie.
In the last few lines, Laura is indirectly thanking Lizzie for what she did by saying 'there is no friend like a sister' which could be a way Laura feels she is redeeming herself to Lizzie without telling her.
The last verse shows Laura has redeemed herself to God, by leading a traditional Christian life (getting married and having children.) She also avoids sinning, even though the temptation is still there, for her sister, children and God.
Redemption could also be in the form of a kind of rebirth, by the line 'is it death or is it life?' said by Laura after waking up after drinking the Goblins juices Lizzie collected. It is like the evil and temptation in Laura has been killed and the goodness and innocence has been reborn/redeemed. We also said that Rossetti mentions how Laura 'laughed in the innocent old way' which is like redemption has been redeemed and given back.

Christina Rossetti

Christina Rossetti was born in 1830 and lived with her parents and three siblings in London (her father was also a poet). She was a very religious woman and was an Anglican, as were her mother and sister. She was so religious that she refused to marry two men on religious grounds (James Collison was Roman Catholic and Charles Bigot was Agnostic.) Her religion and refusal to marry is believed to have had a lot of influence on her poetry. She wrote her first and longest poem, Goblin Market in 1859 and it was published in 1862, she is also most known for this poem because of its ten page length. Soon after she fell ill and was left bedridden, but continued to write poems and sonnets from her bed. She wrote many other poems including Remember (a love poem), In Bleak Midwinter (a Christmas Carol poem) and many others before she got cancer in 1891, which was fatal, and she died in 1894.
An interesting fact was that at a 9/11 memorial service, Dame Judi Dench read Remember by Christina Rossetti.

Goblins Market

This lesson we were talking about the beginning of the Christina Rossetti poem 'Goblins Market.' We talked about symbolism in the poem and how the many mentions of fruit symbolises the idea of 'forbidden fruit' and temptation. Also we spoke about the how Laura & Lizzies long blonde hair symbolises purity and how Laura's disappears when she cuts her hair and gives into the temptation of the Goblins Market. I thought this lesson was really interesting, and as well as that really good because, i'll admit, before the lesson I was quite confused about the poem and understood some parts but not others, and now after reading it again after the lesson, I understand it so much better, so todays lesson really helped.

The Destination of a Story

(After attempting to login for the past 25 minutes, i'm finally writing this!!)
We were talking about the destination of a story & how the beginning of some books has hints as to what happens at the end of the book & we looked at the 1st chapter of Pride & Predudice by Jane Austen.
We talked about how there was no description in the 1st chapter until the last paragraph, which showed how Austen wanted the reader to focus on the conversation between the two characters (Mr & Mrs Bennet), who were talking about Mr Bingley moving into town & Mrs Bennet wanting to marry one of her daughters off to him, because he has money. This conversation is so important, because you then know this is Mrs Bennets aim throughout the novel & the destination of the novel will have something to do with marriage & money. 
We also spoke about the fact no characters are introduced until the 3rd paragraph. Before that, Austen only mentions theories to do with marriage (no description of characters or places.) Austen does this to show the reader the destination of the story straight from the beginning. This is a very uncommon way to begin a novel.
Also, the first paragraph is one sentence on it's own ('it is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.') Due to this sentence being the first in the book & in a paragraph on it's own shows that it must have some significance to the story (and it does, the destination is marriage, and the 1st sentence is about rich men wanting a wife.)

'Mr Francis entered the room. There was a piece of paper on the floor...'

The 'paper on the floor' in any other situation seems pretty boring & unimportant, but in narrative, it actually has some significance. I think it's because it actually will have something to do with the plot of the book, because if it had nothing to do with anything in the story, it would have been taken away in the editing of the story. For example, the piece of paper on the floor may be a clue to help figure out a murder, or something along those lines.