Readers or parents may have concerns about Goblin Markets susceptibility to religious and sexual interpretations.

Such concern is probably unnecessary.

The poem can be very rewarding without reference to either, although many readers find it useful to see the poem from more than one perspective. The religious approach, while older and more common, is less explicit. The poem works most obviously as a general treatment of entirely earthly redemption through love. In fact, only a few inconspicuous biblical allusions make any direct reference to Jesus, and it is easy to see these as a kind of poetic comparison adding stature to Lizzie's actions by association.

The sexual/feminist passages seem obvious to the person looking for them, but for more than a century almost nobody noticed them. If anything, Goblin Market recommends sexual abstinence before marriage; it also offers hope of redemption for those who need...