Christina Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelites

This chapter explores the influence of the Oxford Movement on early Pre-Raphaelitism and reveals how Christina Rossetti uses the Brotherhood’s aesthetic to inform and disseminate Tractarian theology through the late nineteenth-century. Showcasing how her poetry engages dialogically with the writings of the leaders of the Oxford Movement in London, the second half of the chapter proposes a fresh consideration of her as a key participant in the maturation of Tractarianism.