Rossetti Archive Textual Transcription

Document Title: Fiammetta (For a Picture) (Delaware fair copy)
Author: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Date of Composition: 1879
Type of Manuscript: draft manuscript
Scribe: DGR

The full Rossetti Archive record for this transcribed document is available.

Image of page [1] page: [1]
Manuscript Addition: 17 / 26 / 24
Editorial Description: Hand-written numbers in the upper left corner.
Fiammetta.

( for a Picture.)
  • Behold Fiammetta, shown in Vision here.
  • Gloom-girt 'mid spring-flushed apple-growth she stands
  • And as she sways the branches with her hands,
  • Along her arm the sundered bloom falls sheer,
  • In separate petals shed, each like a tear;
  • While from the quivering bough the bird expands
  • His wings. And lo! thy spirit understands
  • Life shaken & shower'd & flown, & Death drawn near.
  • All stirs with change. Her garments beat the air:
  • 10The angel circling round her aureole
  • Shimmers in flight against the tree's grey bole:
  • While she, with reassuring eyes most fair,
  • A presage and a promise stands; as 'twere
  • On Death's dark storm the rainbow of the Soul.

Electronic Archive Edition: