Goblin Market explores both the Victorian repression coded into its text as well as its parallels with contemporary social issues. Performed by London-based ensemble The New Professionals under Rebecca Miller, the work is a unique concoction of music, mime and masks that delves into the overripe and at times grotesque and shocking imagery of Christina Rossetti’s poem. ‘Goblin Market’ is probably the most famous poem Christina Rossetti (1830-94) wrote. This multitude of interpretations only adds to the poems mystique and imagery, captured here by the Pulitzer Prize winning composer Aaron Jay Kernis. Whilst Lizzie resists, Laura is slowly destroyed by her insatiable longing for the goblins forbidden fruit. The story of two sisters and their encounters with the sinister Goblin men and their ‘forbidden’ fruit, has been variously interpreted as an allegory of proto-feminism, a critique on the rise of advertising in pre-capitalist England, and an exploration of feminine sexuality in relation to the Victorian world. Christina Rossetti’s 19th Century poem Goblin Market has long divided and bemused readers as to its meaning and intent. The poem is also available in The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti (1979) and the 2001 issue of the same edition, simply titled The Complete Poems.

Goblin market full poem