A Beautiful Nature Poem (on colours)
Despite her Italian parentage, Christina Rossetti was born and raised in England. All four children had good educations (her brother was also a poet). She was regarded as the finest poet of the Victorian era.
Christina was devoutly religious, causing her to refuse two offers of marriage. She led a reclusive life after one brother’s death, and died age just 64.
Despite never marrying, she wrote some of the greatest-ever love poems. And this poem on colours:
What is pink? a rose is pink
By a fountain’s brink.
What is red? a poppy’s red
In its barley bed.
What is blue? the sky is blue
Where the clouds float thro’.
What is white? a swan is white
Sailing in the light.
What is yellow? pears are yellow,
Rich and ripe and mellow.
What is green? the grass is green,
With small flowers between.
What is violet? clouds are violet
In the summer twilight.
What is orange? Why, an orange,
Just an orange!
Christina Rossetti was born in 1830 in London to a family steeped in art and literature. Her father, Gabriele Rossetti, was a political exile and a respected scholar, while her mother, Frances, encouraged a love of books at home.
Surrounded by creativity and strong ideas, Christina began writing poetry as a young child. The warmth and tension in her family home shaped her view of the world and gave her the emotional depth that runs through her work. She wrote the words to the Christmas carol ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’.
