Christina Rossetti's "The Goblin Market"

"Goblin Market" questions

 

1. Is "Goblin Market" just a simple story, as Christina Rossetti once suggested, or does it have deeper levels of meaning?
2. Can all the poem's elements be taken as strictly literal?  If not, what other ideas could they suggest?  Do critics go too far when they see deeper meanings and ideas in the poem?
3. The goblin fruit has unusual effects on Laura and on Jeanie.  What are these effects?  What symbolic significance might each effect have?
4. "Goblin Market" has often been seen as a kind of fairy tale.  What fairy tale elements do you see in the poem?  What do they contribute to the poem's message and effect?