The Staff and Scrip

<author/> <city/> <publisher/> <date/> <pages/> </bibl> <note/> </citnliterary> <citntranslationoriginal> <bibl> <title/> <author/> <city/> <publisher/> <date/> <pages/> </bibl> <note/> </citntranslationoriginal> <citnpictorial> <title/> <artist/> <location/> <bibl> <title/> <author/> <city/> <publisher/> <date/> <pages/> </bibl> <note/> </citnpictorial> <citnmythic> <name/> <culture/> <bibl> <title/> <author/> <city/> <publisher/> <date/> <pages/> </bibl> <note/> </citnmythic> <citnhistorical> <event/> <place/> <date/> <bibl> <title/> <author/> <city/> <publisher/> <date/> <pages/> </bibl> <note/> </citnhistorical> <citnautobiographical> <name/> <place/> <date/> <bibl> <title/> <author/> <city/> <publisher/> <date/> <pages/> </bibl> <note/> </citnautobiographical> <citnscenic> <place/> <date/> <bibl> <title/> <author/> <city/> <publisher/> <date/> <pages/> </bibl> <note/> </citnscenic> </listcitn> </source> <commentaries> <head>Commentary</head> <section type="intro"> <head>Introduction</head> <p>DGR sketched the poem in September 1849, when he adapted it out of his readings in the <title level="wrk"> <xref doc="a.anon003.rad" link="dead"> <hi rend="i">Gesta Romanorum</hi> </xref> , which he had just acquired. Critical judgment of the work varies greatly, from those who see it as one of DGR's most successful poems to those who find it relatively uninspired.

Textual History: Composition

On 18 September 1849 DGR wrote out and sent to his brother a prose “synopsis of the subject” (see <xref doc="a.pr5246.a43.vol2.rad" from="49" workcode="1-1851"> <hi rend="i">Family Letters</hi> </xref> , II. 49 ), as well as a “considerably altered” version of the poem about which he wanted his WMR's opinion (see Fredeman, <xref doc="a."> <hi rend="i">Correspondence</hi> </xref> , 49. 11 ). He seems not to have done anything further with his plans for the poem until 1851-52, when WMR says it was probably written ( <xref doc="a.pr5246.a43.rad" from="197" workcode="1-1851"> <hi rend="i">Memoir</hi> </xref> , I. 197 ). That text would presumably be the original (unrevised) part of the Texas draft manuscript, a heavily revised composite text of the poem (part written in 1851-52, part in 1856). A corrected copy of part of the draft manuscript is also held in the Harry Ransom Research Center, U. of Texas.

Textual History: Revision

The poem was probably revised for its printing in the <xref doc="a.ap4.o93.1.December.rad" workcode="1-1851" from="771"> <hi rend="i">Oxford and Cambridge Magazine</hi> </xref> in December 1856. The initial parts of those revisions can be seen in the Texas draft manuscript, where a great many stanzas are cancelled throughout the poem, and where other alterations and additions are to be seen. The Huntington Library also has a fair copy fragment of two stanzas written for the 1856 printing. The copy text for the 1856 printing does not appear to survive, however. The poem was further revised as it was passing through its prepublication states toward its eventual publication in the 1870 <xref doc="a.1-1870.1stedn.rad" workcode="1-1851"> <hi rend="i">Poems</hi> </xref> (see DGR's letter to his brother of 26 August 1869, Fredeman, <xref doc="a."> <hi rend="i">Correspondence</hi> </xref> , 69. 137 ).

Production History

Reception

See Commentary for the 1870 <xref doc="a.1-1870.1stedn.rad" workcode="1-1851"> <hi rend="i">Poems</hi> </xref> .

Iconographic

Printing History

First printed in the <xref doc="a.ap4.o93.1.December.rad" workcode="1-1851" from="771"> <hi rend="i">Oxford and Cambridge Magazine</hi> </xref> (December 1856), a text that was picked up and reprinted in the May 1858 issue of <xref doc="a.n1.c9.5.rad" workcode="1-1851"> <hi rend="i">The Crayon</hi> </xref> . It was revised and reprinted in the 1870 <xref doc="a.1-1870.1stedn.rad" workcode="1-1851"> <hi rend="i">Poems</hi> </xref> . As the latter volume passed through further printings of the 1870 edition, DGR made additional changes to the text. It was then reprinted in its final form in the 1881 <xref doc="a.1-1881.1stedn.rad" workcode="1-1851"> <hi rend="i">Poems</hi> </xref> .

Pictorial

Historical

Literary

The poem is based on one (and perhaps two) anecdotes from the <hi rend="i">Gesta Romanorum</hi> : no. 25 ( <xref doc="a.anon003.rad" link="dead">“Of Ingratitude”</xref> ) and no. 66 ( <xref doc="a.anon003.rad" link="dead">“Of Constancy”</xref> ). DGR clearly took the basic incident from the former, but in that tale the lady proves ultimately unfaithful to her vow. The tale <xref doc="a.anon003.rad" link="dead">“Of Constancy”</xref> , which is formally similar to <xref doc="a.anon003.rad" link="dead">“Of Ingratitude”</xref> , ends with her faithfulness.

DGR's sophistication of the traditional ballad stanza is most evident in the addition of the short fifth line, which was “perhaps suggested by Keats' stanza of <xref doc="a.keats003.rad" link="dead">‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci’</xref> ” ( Baum, <xref doc="a.pr5241.b3.rad" link="dead" from="23"> <hi rend="i">Poems, Ballads and Sonnets</hi> </xref> , 23n ).

Translation

Autobiographical

Bibliographic

Boos, <xref doc="a.pr5247.b6.rad" link="dead" from="130" workcode="1-1851" to="135"> <hi rend="i">Poetry of DGR</hi> </xref> , 130-135. Gregory, <xref doc="a.gregory.vol2.rad" link="dead" from="113" workcode="1-1851" to="114">“Life and Works of DGR” vol. 2</xref> , 113-114. Howard, <xref doc="a.pr5247.h6.rad" link="dead" from="60" workcode="1-1851" to="63"> <hi rend="i">The Dark Glass</hi> </xref> , 60-63. Masefield, <xref doc="a.pr6025.a77t5.rad" link="dead"> <hi rend="i">Thanks Before Going</hi> </xref> , 13-14.

1881 First Edition text See WMR's note ( <hi rend="i">Works</hi> [1911] ). This motif runs through the poem; see lines 63, 203. “Like deep water; perhaps deep green” (Baum, <xref doc="a.pr5241.b3.rad" link="dead" from="24"> <hi rend="i">Poems, Ballads and Sonnets</hi> </xref> , 24n) . Recalls <xref doc="a.50-1869.raw" workcode="50-1869">“The Portrait”</xref> , line 103. Boos ( <hi rend="i">Poetry of DGR</hi> , 134) compares DGR's <xref doc="a.6-1854.raw">“Sudden Light”</xref> and <xref doc="a.2-1854.raw">“The Birth-Bond”</xref> (sonnet XV of <xref doc="a.22-1881.raw"> <hi rend="i">The House of Life</hi> </xref> ). Compare line 205.