19 Facts About Christina Rossetti

Christina Georgina Rossetti was an English writer of romantic, devotional and children's poems, including "Goblin Market" and "Remember".

Christina Rossetti wrote the words of two Christmas carols well known in Britain: "In the Bleak Midwinter", later set by Gustav Holst, Katherine Kennicott Davis, and Harold Darke, and "Love Came Down at Christmas", set by Darke and other composers.

Christina Rossetti was a sister of the artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti and features in several of his paintings.

Christina Rossetti was born in 38 Charlotte Street, London, to Gabriele Rossetti, a poet and a political exile from Vasto, Abruzzo, Italy, since 1824 and Frances Polidori, the sister of Lord Byron's friend and physician John William Polidori.

Christina Rossetti had two brothers and a sister: Dante Gabriel became an influential artist and poet, and William Michael and Maria both became writers.

Christina Rossetti was educated at home by her mother and father through religious works, classics, fairy tales and novels.

Christina Rossetti delighted in the works of Keats, Scott, Ann Radcliffe and Matthew Lewis.

Unlike her parents, Christina Rossetti felt at home in London and was seemingly happy.

Christina Rossetti gave up his teaching post at King's College and though he lived another 11 years, suffered from depression and was never physically well again.

In 1853, when the family had financial difficulties, Christina Rossetti helped her mother keep a school in Fromefield, Frome, but it did not succeed.

Christina Rossetti later became involved with the linguist Charles Cayley, but declined to marry him, for religious reasons.

From 1842 onward Christina Rossetti began writing down and dating her poems.

Christina Rossetti used the pseudonym "Ellen Alleyne" in the literary periodical, The Germ, published by the Pre-Raphaelites from January to April 1850 and edited by her brother William.

Christina Rossetti was lauded by Gerard Manley Hopkins, Algernon Swinburne and Tennyson.

Christina Rossetti was ambivalent about women's suffrage, but many have found feminist themes in her work.

Christina Rossetti opposed slavery in the United States, cruelty to animals in prevalent vivisection, and exploitation of girls in under-age prostitution.

Christina Rossetti continued to write and publish for the rest of her life, mainly devotional work and children's poetry.

Christina Rossetti was one of the very first female stamp collectors, beginning her collection in 1847, just seven years after the first stamp was issued.

In 2011, Christina Rossetti was a subject of a Radio 4 programme, In Our Time.