She cried, “Laura,” up the garden,
“Did you miss me?
Come and kiss me.
Never mind my bruises,
Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices
Squeez’d from goblin fruits for you,
Goblin pulp and goblin dew.
Eat me, drink me, love me;
Laura, make much of me;
For your sake I have braved the glen
And had to do with goblin merchant men.”
“Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti, lines 468-474
In Christina Rossetti’s poem, “Goblin Market,” she interprets sisterly love. On the surface, the poem tells the story of Lizzie and Laura’s strong bond of sisterhood and how it conquers anything. However, just below lies the sexual language shared between the two characters. After getting covered in fruit juice, Lizzie runs home and begs her sister to drink it off of her body so that she may hopefully be satisfied. “Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices / eat me, drink me, love me” (Rossetti 468, 71). Here, Lizzie lists all the different ways Lizzie could attain the fruit juice from off of her body. These action verbs are very demanding, giving off a sense of desperation. Lizzie, desperate to save her sister’s well-being, demands that Laura drink. This idea that Lizzie would do anything for her sister is what children are supposed to learn from this poem. However, the language Rossetti uses is overtly sexual. Because of this sexual language, readers get the idea that perhaps Lizzie and Laura cross the line between sisters and lovers. Due to earlier language—as well as the subject matter of the poem in general—about forbidden fruit, a famous tale from the Bible comes to mind. These Biblical themes include sin, and, if lovers, Lizzie and Laura would be breaking multiple rules. Incest, pre-marital sex, as well as sex with the same gender are all considered sins. This theme of blurring the line between sisters and lovers is common among Victorian literature. Perhaps this says something about this particular time period’s desires, repressed so much by popular culture that they think about taking them out on other close members of their lives.