Christina
Rossetti
There are numerous references to Dante Gabriel Rossetti, one
of the founders of the pre- Raphaelite Brothehood, coming to stay in the area.
On more than occasion his sister Christina accompanied her mother to visit the
artist. Christina became the most popular female poet of the Victorian era and
many of her poems, such as Remember and Goblin Market, feature in collections
of English poetry. This poem refers to her connection with Herne .
She
was not yet twenty when she came to stay
With
her new fiancé and her mother.
It
was at Hunters Forstall, near Herne Bay,
On
a visit to her famous artist brother.
Gabriel
was about to form the Brotherhood,
While
Christina had already published verse.
Despite
the fact her health was far from good
She
came back to housekeep and to nurse.
Sadly
her engagement was not to last
Doomed
perhaps by deep religious pride
Herne
summer stays went by too fast
She
wrote she loved the local countryside.
Her
poems gave her fame and lasting popularity
many
of them we wish that we could pen
Lesser
known is her work for the Highgate charity
A volunteer for the refuge at St Mary Magdalen.
Her
life may have ended in pain and woe
But
her legacy is in lines that we all know:
Snow
had fallen, snow on snow
In
the bleak mid-winter long ago.