SOURCE: "Symbol and Reality in Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market," in PMLA, Vol. LXXIII, No. 4, Part I, September, 1958, pp. 375-85.

In the following essay, Packer argues that the symbolism—which is often vague—in "Goblin Market" reflects the realities of Rossetti 's life, just as the symbols in her other works correspond with her life, and that the poem should not be read simply as a "Pre-Raphaelite masterpiece."

I

In common with other such enduring works of art as The Faery Queen, Gulliver's Travels, and Alice in Wonderland, Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market" has many levels of meaning. At the narrative level it offers a charming and delicate fairy tale to delight a child—if a somewhat precocious one. At the symbolic and allegorical level, it conveys certain Christian ethical assumptions. At the psychological level, it suggests emotional experience universally valid.

Unlike Christina's other long autobiographical poems, notably "Convent Threshold...