I didn’t translate this one, actually. She wrote it in English. Christina Georgina Rossetti was the sister of the Pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti. She and the other siblings grew up in England, and most of her poetry is in English, though she did write quite a bit of Italian poetry as well. The edition of her poetry I have, The Poetical Works of Christian Georgina Rossetti, is a beautiful one in a lovely mottled caramel-colored leather, with gilt pages and details. The introduction and editing (variorum at the back, as I recall) was done by her brother William Michael Rossetti, who outlived both her and Dante, was a respected literary critic of the time, and possessed all their manuscripts. I think this one is the same edition.

Christina was a very devout Christian, and this is apparent in her work, as well as the testimonies to her life from friends and family. She was very ill later in life with Grave’s Disease, and eventually died of cancer. Her work of these periods of illness is entirely luminous. For a view of her as a young lady, see her brother’s painting of the Annunciation, Ecce Ancilla Domini (“Behold, the handmaided of the Lord”), in which she was the model for the young Virgin Mary.