User:Mt105cs115/Evaluate an Article

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Christina Rossetti

Why you have chosen this article to evaluate?
(Briefly explain why you chose it, why it matters, and what your preliminary impression of it was.)

I chose the article on Christina Rossetti because she is the poet that I am currently studying in my ENG 246 class. In an era of literature that was dominated by male poets and the occasional female one, Rossetti's works rivaled that of perhaps even her own brother, Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Along with Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Rossetti is considered one of the greatest female poets of the 20th century. My preliminary impression of the article was impressed. In comparison to other articles I have previously read about Rossetti, the information lined up and there are a fair amount of images and text on her page.

Evaluate the article
(Compose a detailed evaluation of the article here, considering each of the key aspects listed above. Consider the guiding questions, and check out the examples of what a useful Wikipedia article evaluation looks like.)

The lead section of the Christina Rossetti article is good and concise, noting her most famous works as well as her familial relation to Dante Gabriel Rossetti. It describes her style as "romantic, devotional...". The contents page is present in the lead as well as a container of an image, her birthplace and birthday, her literary movement, and family. However, I felt like the lead could have mentioned less about other artists that would later compose (Gustav Holst, Harold Darke, etc.) her poems into carols.

There is a solid amount of information in the content section. Much of that information is found in her early life and education as well as recognition. The early life and education section is accurate as I had read multiple anthology introductions of Rossetti that relay the same facts. There were also a substantial amount of links for the information associated with Rossetti such as her family, the poets who inspired her, etc. I was pleasantly surprised to see details about her life such as her past home. They also had a lot of specific information on the deterioration of her family and her engagements. The career section is comprehensive, listing how she got into poetry, as well as descriptions of her most famous poems. The recognition section was equally, if not, more impressive and paid tribute to the legacy that Rossetti left, while still being objective. The ancestry list was an added bonus and the publications list is comprehensive.

The article is from a neutral point of view and there is no content or phrases that insinuate the Rossetti is the better or lesser female poet of the 20th century. There were critics comments, but both negative and positive and from other writers of her time. There are a plethora of resources with most of them being from reputable sources like Books, encyclopedias, university articles, etc. However, I did notice one reference being from eNotes.com which I am not sure is as reputable but upon checking the website it did not seem so bad. The links are functioning as well.

I thought the way the article was organized made it as informative as possible. It follows her early life, her adult life and the career she built, her later life, and the recognition she received after she passed. The images and media consisted of a mix of Rossetti's portraits from her brother, her tombstone, and some of her poetry. There is also one of her family which I thought was a wonderful addition.

There have been no changes since more than a year ago but there was a major expansion of the page done in 2008. The talk section has a mix of conversations, some productive and some not. For example, one comment was purely an opinion of expressed dislike for Rossetti. A response tried to offset this though so I do not think the original comment had an impact. At the bottom of that thread though was a comment that just said "hoello". This article is listed as a level-5 vital article and rated B-Class.