Victorian Lyrical Rock Star
Yeah, yeah, we know it sounds funny but it's also right on point when it comes to Christina Rossetti's lyrical, Victorian, rock star ways. Let's make one thing clear though: our lady wasn't anything like your average rock star partying up a storm. She took her religion, her work, and her temper very seriously.
But since she was also super famous in her day, and continues to be so many years later, we can't help but call her a rock star. She wrote poems and lots of them, all of which tend to grapple with some heavy themes like religious devotion, gender, nature, pain, and loss. So although "Who Has Seen the Wind?" is a light little nursery rhyme, much of Rossetti's work is quite the contrary.
There are, of course, a few things you will always see in her poems: simplicity, symbolism, religious undertones, and richly colorful language that sought to capture nature through poetry. Our gal was part of (though not officially) the Pre-Raphaelite movement. These folks wanted to create work that was similar to the vibrant colors and austerity of the Renaissance (painter Raphael's time). So nature, rich figurative language, and a resistance in sounding too cute are all key contributors to Rossetti's work and more specifically, "Who Has Seen the Wind?"