by Dinah Roe
36. unzoned unconstrained by a corset.
43. Haroun Harun al-Rashid (763–809), Caliph of Baghdad, appears in One Thousand and One Nights.
44. Bagdat Baghdad.
46. Giafar (767–803), vizier of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, appears in One Thousand and One Nights.
47. Assad one of the principal characters in the One Thousand and One Nights story of the princes Amgiad and Assad.
48–9. long wearying / For his lost brother’s step WBS has confused the brothers here. In the story, it is Amgiad who waits for Assad.
60. bourne destination.
65. tedious moving very slowly.
68. sward grass.
82. Merlin magician and adviser to King Arthur.
115. Chaucer Geoffrey Chaucer (1342–1400), author of The Canterbury Tales.
117. Spenser Edmund Spenser (1552–99), author of The Faerie Queene (1590–96).
132. Comus Greek god of festivity and excess; nectar drink of the gods.
Sonnet: Early Aspirations
Germ 3 (March 1850).
To the Artists Called P.R.B.
Composed 1851. Poems (Longmans, Green & Co., 1875). See also John Tupper’s ‘A Quiet Evening’, DGR’s ‘To the P.R.B.’ and ‘St Wagnes’ Eve’ and CGR’s ‘The P.R.B.’.
3. humbly stands apart WBS was not an official member of the PRB.
5. old marionettes presumably artists who conformed to Royal Academy tradition.
8. Uniting life with ‘nature’ truth to nature was part of the Pre-Raphaelite creed.
‘I Go to be Cured at Avilion’
Poems (Longmans, Green & Co., 1875).
Title. Avilion Avalon, the mythical island to which King Arthur is brought after his final battle, and from which it is hoped he will return one day. Composed for WBS’s painting King Arthur Carried from the Battlefield to the Land of Enchantment (1847). See WM’s ‘Near Avalon’.
3. pall a cloth spread over a coffin or bier; also a robe or cloak; marge margin, edge.
9. cresset torch.
Art for Art’s Sake
A Poet’s Harvest Home (Elkin Matthews and John Lane, 1882).
7. stalls and boxes of a theatre.
13. Fletcher John Fletcher (1579–1625), Jacobean playwright.
JOHN RUSKIN
All poems are taken from The Works of John Ruskin, ed. E. T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn, vol. 2 (George Allen, 1903).
The Last Smile
Composed 1836. Friendship’s Offering (1837). First poetry volume Poems (John Wiley, 1882).
Christ Church, Oxford
Composed 1837. Friendship’s Offering (1838). First poetry volume Poems (John Wiley, 1882). ‘ … no miscellany for the boudoir was considered complete without a copy of … “Christ Church, Oxford” ’ (The Works of John Ruskin, p. xix).
17. oriel bay window which projects from a wall without extending to the ground.
The Mirror
Composed 1837. London Monthly Miscellany (1839). First poetry volume The Poems of John Ruskin, vol. 2 (George Allen, 1891).
IV
4. Elysian relating to the Elysian Fields, where the heroes of Greek mythology went after death.
The Old Water-Wheel
Composed 1840. Friendship’s Offering (1841). First poetry volume Poems (John Wiley, 1882).
The Hills of Carrara
Composed 1841. Friendship’s Offering (1842). First poetry volume Poems (John Wiley, 1882). See Arthur O’Shaughnessy’s ‘Carrara’.
Title. City in Tuscany, Italy, famous for its white marble.
I
3. cumbrous heavily.
V
3. couchant latent, deriving from the heraldic term for an animal lying down with its head raised.
FORD MADOX BROWN
All three poems are taken from PP, where ‘Angela Damnifera’ was first published. The other two poems were first published in an exhibition catalogue, The Exhibition of ‘Work’ and Other Paintings by Ford Madox Brown, at the Gallery, 191 Piccadilly, London, 1865.
Angela Damnifera
Composed 1858.
3. Nemesis goddess of divine punishment for wrongdoing or hubris (excessive pride or arrogance in the face of the gods).
10. basilisk mythical reptile whose gaze or breath is lethal.
12. Beatrice Beatrice Portinari (1266–90), muse of the the poet Dante Alighieri (1265–1321).
13. surcease cessation.
For the Picture ‘The Last of England’
Title. Refers to a major FMB painting (1855), the subject of which is immigration. FMB used himself and his family as models for this painting, now in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.
5. sots drunkards.
For the Picture Called ‘Work’
Title. Refers to a major FMB painting depicting workers digging up a road (1852–65), now in Manchester Art Gallery.
COVENTRY PATMORE
The Seasons
Germ 1 (January 1850).
Stars and Moon
Germ 2 (February 1850).
13. boon blessing, favour.
FROM THE ANGEL IN THE HOUSE: THE BETROTHAL
Both poems were first published in (and are taken from) Book 1 of The Angel in the House: The Betrothal (J. W. Parker, 1854), which Patmore had begun writing around 1850, during his association with the early Pre-Raphaelites. He revised this work and continued the verse sequence of The Angel in the House over three additional books: The Espousals (J. W. Parker, 1856), Faithful For Ever (Macmillan, 1860) and The Victories of Love (Macmillan, 1862). All parts were published together in one volume in 1863. ‘The Gracious Chivalry’ and ‘Love Liberal’ constitute numbers 1 and 2 from ‘The Accompaniments’ in ‘Canto 10: Going to Church’.
The Gracious Chivalry
18. gust a passionate outburst.
WILLIAM ALLINGHAM
The Fairies
Day and Night Songs (Routledge, 1854). Illustrated by Arthur Hughes in The Music Master (Routledge, 1855). See CGR’s ‘Goblin Market’.
22. Columbkill a parish in County Longford in the Irish Midlands.
24. Slieveleague cliffs off the coast of County Donegal; Rosses region in the west of County Donegal.
Lady Alice
Day and Night Songs (Routledge, 1854). Illustrated by Arthur Hughes in The Music Master (Routledge, 1855), from which this text is taken. See WM’s ‘Golden Wings’.
II
4. bier a frame to carry a coffin or a corpse to burial.
The Maids of Elfen-Mere
The Music Master, a Love Story, and Two Series of Day and Night Songs (Routledge, 1855). Illustrated by DGR. See also WM’s ‘The Blue Closet’.
11. Lilies emblems of innocence.
17. sued appealed.
Three Sisters of Haworth
Life and Phantasy (Reeves and Turner, 1889).
Title. Refers to the Brontë sisters.
3. sacristan person in charge of the room where a priest prepares for a service.
Express
Life and Phantasy (Reeves and Turner, 1889).
6. fleet swift.
13. kine cattle.
Vivant!
Life and Phantasy (Reeves and Turner, 1889).
Title. Living, alive (French).
18. Oberon and Titania king and queen of the fairies in William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
JAMES COLLINSON
From The Child Jesus
Germ 2 (February 1850). Illustrated by Collinson.
Subtitle. Five Sorrowful Mysteries refers to five episodes leading up to Christ’s crucifixion, commonly meditated upon during rosary prayer. Collinson divides his long poem into these five ‘mysteries’, the first of which is given here.
I
THE AGONY IN THE GARDEN
Title. After the Last Supper, Christ prays in the Garden of Gethsemane before he is betrayed by Judas. See Matthew 26:36–46 and Luke 22:40–48.
47. oriel bay window which projects from a wall without exten
ding to the ground.
THOMAS WOOLNER
My Beautiful Lady
Germ 1 (January 1850). Illustrated in two panels by WHH. First poetry volume My Beautiful Lady (Macmillan, 1863). Because of Woolner’s extensive revisions for the 1863 volume, the text is taken from the Germ.
26. august respected, impressive.
61. ounce snow leopard.
120. blent blended.
Of My Lady in Death
Germ 1 (January 1850). Although WHH is credited with being the illustrator of ‘My Beautiful Lady’ only, the second panel of his illustration corresponds more closely with the subject matter of ‘Of My Lady in Death’. First poetry volume My Beautiful Lady (Macmillan, 1863). Because of Woolner’s extensive revisions for the 1863 volume, the text is taken from the Germ.
46. blent blended.
O When and Where
Germ 2 (February 1850).
Emblems
Germ 3 (March 1850). See DGR’s ‘The Woodspurge’.
39. main ocean.
56. chidden chided, scolded.
JOHN TUPPER
A Sketch from Nature
Composed 1849 – ‘in Sydenham Wood’, according to a note in the original text. Germ 1 (January 1850).
8. corbies ravens or crows.
26. merle blackbird.
Viola and Olivia
Germ 4 (April 1850). Illustrated by WHD.
Title. Characters from William Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night. Viola, disguised as the male page Cesario, works for the Duke, Orsino. She presents his suit to Olivia, a mourning widow. Olivia falls in love with the disguised Viola, while Viola falls in love with Orsino and Orsino with ‘Cesario’. Mayhem ensues.
A Quiet Evening
Composed 1850. Poems by the Late John Lucas Tupper (Longmans, Green & Co., 1897). See WBS’s ‘To the Artists Called P.R.B.’, DGR’s ‘To the P.R.B.’ and ‘St Wagnes’ Eve’ and CGR’s ‘The P.R.B.’.
1. ennui boredom (French).
3. Gabriel Dante Gabriel Rossetti – see Biographical Notes.
4. Stephens Frederick George Stephens – see Biographical Notes.
6. William William Michael Rossetti – see Biographical Notes.
9. John John Lucas Tupper – see Biographical Notes.
13. Aleck Alexander Tupper, John Tupper’s brother, whose firm printed the Germ.
18. mundungus smelly tobacco.
53. George George Tupper, brother of John and Alexander.
77. Thomas Thomas Woolner – see Biographical Notes.
78. like Burns ‘among the three’ see ll. 19–20 of Robert Burns’s drinking song ‘Willie Brew’d a Peck o’Maut’ (1789): ‘Wha first beside his chair shall fa’ / He is the King amang us three.’
WALTER HOWELL DEVERELL
The Sight Beyond
Germ 2 (February 1850).
I
2. Noah’s dove after the flood, Noah releases a dove three times from the ark to seek land (Genesis 8:8–12).
8. egress exit, way out.
II
8. welkin sky.
III
1. Vanity … quoting him of old ‘Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity’ (Ecclesiastes 1:2).
6. demesne domain.
10. Jacob’s ladder in his dream, Jacob sees a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, on which angels ascend and descend. See Genesis 28:11–19.
11. terrene earthly.
12. ken range of knowledge or sight.
14. bow rainbow, symbol of the covenant between God and mankind.
A Modern Idyl
Germ 4 (April 1850).
13. lilies emblems of innocence.
GEORGE MEREDITH
From Modern Love
All poems were first published in (and are taken from) Meredith’s sonnet sequence Modern Love in Modern Love and Poems of the English Roadside, with poems and ballads (Chapman & Hall, 1862). There are fifty sonnets in total in this sequence and, unusually, each sonnet is sixteen rather than fourteen lines long. Compare with Coventry Patmore’s Angel in the House and DGR’s sonnet sequence The House of Life.
VII
See DGR’s ‘Body’s Beauty’ (Sonnet LXXVIII of The House of Life).
5. Cupid Roman god of love and beauty.
7. serpent dwelling in rich hair recalls Medusa, a mythological monster with snakes for hair whose gaze turns men to stone. See l. 4 of CGR’s ‘The World’: ‘And subtle serpents gliding in her hair.’
IX
2. rude rough, ungentle, violent.
XVI
14. Her cheek was salt tear-streaked.
XVII
5. ply practise, work at diligently.
12. ephemerioe something short-lived, transitory, ephemeral.
XXI
13–14. Fainting points … in wedlock fainting could be a sign of pregnancy.
XXIX
13–16. A kiss is but a kiss … on the grave compare to ACS’s ‘Before Parting’.
XXXVII
4. chariot in Greek mythology, the chariot of the sun driven by the sun god Helios.
11. rosed risen.
XXXIX
2. rose emblem of love.
4. violet symbol of innocence and modesty as well as faithfulness.
XLV
5. Hesper Venus, the evening star.
DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI
Rossetti was a notoriously heavy reviser, and readers should be aware that there is wide textual variation among versions of his poems. No variorum edition of his complete works exists, but there is a variorum edition of his House of Life sonnet sequence, edited by Roger C. Lewis (Boydell & Brewer, 2007). Other useful modern collections of his poems are Jan Marsh’s Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Collected Writings (Dent, 1999) and Jerome McGann’s Dante Gabriel Rossetti: Collected Poetry and Prose (Yale University Press, 2003). See also Jerome J. McGann’s online archive, The Complete Writings and Pictures of Dante Gabriel Rossetti: A Hypermedia Archive at www.rossettiarchive.org.
Unless otherwise noted, texts here are taken from Poems: A New Edition (Ellis and White, 1881). The last volume Rossetti released before his death in 1882, it was a companion volume to his Ballads and Sonnets (F. S. Ellis, 1881). Along with new poems, Poems (1881) contained many works which had appeared initially in Poems (F. S. Ellis, 1870). A notable exception is The House of Life sonnet sequence. Composed between 1847 and 1881, the sonnets were published in two parts, with the first fifty sonnets appearing in Poems (1870) and the complete sequence of 101 sonnets in Ballads and Sonnets (1881) – from which the texts here are taken. The shape of this sequence changed considerably from DGR’s first publication of a sixteen-sonnet version in the Fortnightly Review (1869) through to the sequence’s appearance in The House of Life. For more on the complicated publishing history of the sonnets, see the variorum edition of The House of Life. House of Life sonnets which also appeared in Poems (1870) are indicated in the notes to individual poems, as are texts taken from other sources such as magazines and posthumously published collections.
The Blessed Damozel
Composed 1846–7. Germ 2 (February 1850). First poetry volume Poems (1870). This poem exists in several different versions as it went through various revisions from 1850 to 1881. See Elizabeth Siddal’s ‘He and She and Angels Three’.
Title. DGR painted The Blessed Damozel in 1875–8. Now in the Fogg Museum, Harvard University. The first four stanzas appear on the frame, which was designed by DGR.
1. damozel sixteenth- or seventeenth-century term for a young, unmarried lady of noble birth.
5. lilies emblems of innocence.
7. ungirt undone.
9. white rose of Mary’s gift the white rose is associated with the Virgin Mary.
10. meetly suitably.
24. apace swiftly.
32. ether the sky above the clouds.
54. stars sang in their spheres in ancient philosophy, the movements of celestial bodies (which were believed to revolve around the ea
rth) were thought to produce a kind of music.
73. aureole circle of light, like a halo.
107–8. Cecily Cecilia, virgin martyr and patron saint of musicians; Gertrude patron saint of pilgrims, travellers and the recently dead; Magdalen Mary Magdalene, a woman to whom Christ appears after his resurrection; she is often depicted as a reformed prostitute (see also note for l. 25 of WBS’s ‘Rosabell’); Margaret: virgin martyr and one of the ‘Fourteen Holy Helpers’, a group of saints celebrated for their intercessory powers in human affairs; Rosalys this name may be suggestive of the rosary; possibly also Rosalie, patron saint of Palermo, who, though descended from royalty, chose to live a life of solitude and penance.
126. citherns and citoles stringed instruments similar to lutes.
The Card-Dealer
Composed 1848. Athenaeum (1852). First poetry volume Poems (1870). This poem was inspired by Theodore Von Holst’s painting The Wish (1840). See CGR’s ‘The Queen of Hearts’.
Title. Originally ‘The Card-Dealer; or, Vingt-et-un’.
19–24. Her fingers … eyes of her rings see ll. 218–21 of John Keats’s ‘The Eve of St Agnes’ (1819) for a similar visual effect as the moonlight shines through a stained-glass window:
And threw warm gules on Madeline’s fair breast,
As down she knelt for heaven’s grace and boon;
Rose-bloom fell on her hands, together prest,
And on her silver cross soft amethyst …
The Burden of Nineveh
Composed 1850. Oxford and Cambridge Magazine (1856). First poetry volume Poems (1870). Influenced by Percy Bysshe Shelley’s ‘Ozymandias’ (1817) and John Keats’s ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ (1820). See also Robert Browning’s ‘Love Among the Ruins’ (1855).
Title. Burden a load of labour, duty, responsibility; a refrain; the primary theme or leading argument of a song or literary work. DGR’s poem makes use of all these meanings. See ACS’s ‘A Ballad of Burdens’. Nineveh oldest city and capital of the ancient Assyrian empire.
2–3. To-day I lingered … to living eyes the Elgin Marbles at the British Museum.
10. wingèd beast from Nineveh DGR’s poem was inspired by the British Museum’s colossal statue, probably that of a winged lion from the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II, 883–859 bc, in northern Iraq.
14. mitred wearing an Assyrian headdress; Minotaur monster from Greek mythology with the head of a bull and the body of a man.
17. scathe harm or injury.