It all started when Diane Rehm was talking about the novel Possession on her radio show, which I was listening to on my way to visit my sister in Delaware. I had begun but not finished the novel, but I knew that the two Victorian poets in the novel were based on Robert Browning and Christina Rossetti.

That evening, we went down to Rehoboth Beach and stopped in Browseabout Books. That particular bookshop is actually 75% useless beach knick knacks, but their poetry section, while small, had a nice, wide array of those cheap Dover Thrift editions.

I weighed in my hand Pre-Raphaelity Poetry: An Anthology (Rossetti was a Pre-Raphaelite poet and featured in the anthology) and Goblin Market and Other Poems (which is either an expression of female erotic desire in a society unwilling to accept such, or else it’s about goblins) by Christina Rossetti. I went for the former, a decision which I initially regretted, the latter being fifty cents cheaper and also being exclusively about the poet I was inspired to read. However, as I dug in, I changed my tune slightly.

Normally, I am not much for rhyming poetry, but most of the Pre-Raphaelites were interesting and even avant-garde in their rhyme schemes (though not in the head ache inducing way of Gerard Manley Hopkins). I read straight through all of Christian (though not Dante) Rossetti’s poetry and – and this is what made the book worthwhile – Swinburne.

I had downloaded some Swinburne onto my nook, but poetry is frankly awful to read on an e-reader. The devices simply aren’t made to deal with line breaks.

Being finally able to read some in its proper format was very enjoyable.

The lush, ethereal eroticism of the two writers was something spectacular and I firmly believe that, instead of whatever they’re given, young girls between the ages of thirteen and eighteen should be slipped copies of Rossetti and told not to let their parents or teachers know it or else they’ll get in trouble. Because, and I don’t mean this in a demeaning way (obviously, I also enjoyed it), but it’s the sort of poetry that girls of a certain would (I think) appreciate.

But next time I see my sister, I still think I’ll get Goblin Market and Other Poems.

Incidentally, I picked up Possession when I got home and discovered that it had been too long since I read it, so I’ve started over from the beginning.

Happy birthday to poet Tess Gallagher, wife of the somewhat overrated minimalist writer, Raymond Carver.