I was researching an old book by E Beresford Chancellor (trying to find if anyone had read it before I spend money buying a copy) when I came across a new book out this year (I’ll have to get) titled “Literary Celebrity, Gender, and Victorian Authorship, 1850–1914” by Alexis Easley about literary tourism in the Victorian age and how that affected the wider culture. The page that popped up mentioned a poet named Christina Rossetti. My brain came to a stop as it tried to compute a female name before Rossetti (the famous painter Dante Gabriel who apparently was also a poet – I missed that somehow, but then he’s not one of my favorite artists). I had no idea he had a sister who was a famous poet. Being a curious wench, I had to look up her work. It’s very Victorian! For all curious people who love glimpses into the forgotten past I highly recommend her poem A Bird’s Eye View. I imagine the author (an aging spinster dressed in black silk – the stiff bombazine sighing with every slight movement) sat in some room made dark by heavy blood red velvet curtains half drawn; her corset holding her so rigidly straight only her head can bend down over the small desk holding her paper and ink well. How could she not write depressing poetry with a neck ache?
I’m now off to read more!