Carver, the longest living wombat, resided at the Brookfield Zoo in Illinois. Carver wombat attracted a large amount of fame throughout his life, but not as much as his fellow wombat, Top. Unlike Carver, famous poet, Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s wombat, Top, lived quite a short life, yet attracted a large amount of popularity (Marinacci). Owning a wombat, llama, and toucan, Rossetti seemed to have an exciting life on the surface, but his deeply hidden problems are what negatively affected his life in a tremendous way. The death of Rossetti’s wife and his tragic battle with mental illness set the stage for the composition of his poem, “Insomnia”. “Insomnia” explores Rossetti’s of remorse and regret near the end of his life.
Rossetti’s poetry was largely influenced by his early and mid life struggles. On May 12, 1828, Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti was born to Italian immigrants. He later switched the order of his names later in life in order to stress his relationship with the infamous Italian poet Dante Alighieri. Due to political issues, Rossetti’s father, Gabriele was forced out of Italy in 1819. The Rossetti family had a multitude of achievements, with two of their kids being closely involved with the Catholic Church, and all four kids being…show more content… “From the mid-1860s he began suffering from eye trouble and insomnia, and showed signs of paranoia” (Virginia). In his mid 40's, Rossetti suffered from headaches and weakened vision, and he began taking chloral mixed with whiskey as an attempt to cure his insomnia. During the last 10 years of his life, Rossetti also suffered from schizophrenic symptoms and attempted suicide while in Scotland. Although he gradually recovered, his health continued to deteriorate, which eventually to his death. (Everett). Rossetti’s battle with mental illness lead to him writing much darker poems near the end of his
