The impulse to bring out a new edition of his poetry probably began in late
July 1879, when DGR read T. Hall Caine's lecture on his writing in the text
printed in
(4th series, I,
enforcing my poetic claims”
very proud to think that after my small and solitary book has been a good many years published and several out of print, it yet meets with such ardent upholdings by young and sincere men” like Caine and Caine's friend Noble (letter to Caine, quoted in
By December 1879, according to WMR, DGR was seriously planning a new edition
of his poetry, including all his poems subsequently
composed [to the 1870 volume], forming probably at least half as
much again
”to be called
” (Poems Old and New
Correspondence
As the contents grew DGR was compelled to plan two volumes instead of one.
The new materials and the contents of the 1870 volume were dispersed into
the new edition of the
Poems
and its companion volume,
As with all his books, this volume gathers together work that DGR had
accumulated over a number of years. The book's subtitle indicates the
general character of the volume, which is a kind of augmented edition of the
1870
. But a major part of the latter, “
This volume does contain some new work, however. The major new piece is the
fragmentary narrative “
The most important difference from the 1870 volume, however, is the
re-arrangement of the contents. The removal of “
section, and even that is markedly different in the two books.
This process began in October 1880 when DGR wrote some new passages for
“Correspondence
Most of DGR's time was spent on the poetry that would appear in the
volume, however, not the New Edition of the
The printer for this volume was Strangeways and Sons, the same who printed
the 1870
. One wants to note this because the printer for the companion
Although both volumes were ready to appear in late June or early July, Jane
Morris' apprehensions with the personal aspects of the
volume forced a delay in the final publication plans, as well as some
late textual changes to the latter book. Since DGR wanted the
Although the surviving proofs (at Delaware) are not date stamped, as were the
Whittingham proofs for the Ballads and Sonnets
The book's literary character is not much different from the 1870
, of which it represents a slightly abbreviated revision. The reviews,
as with the 1870
DGR and Jane Morris: Their Correspondence
Life and
Works of DGR,
Rossetti's
Ballads and Sonnetts and Poems (Includes a Note by William E.
Fredeman).
Library of John Henry Wrenn, vol. 4.
POEMS.
TO
WILLIAM MICHAEL ROSSETTI,
THESE POEMS,
TO SO MANY OF WHICH, SO MANY YEARS BACK,
HE GAVE THE FIRST BROTHERLY HEARING,
ARE NOW AT LAST DEDICATED.
1870-1881.
‘Many poems in this volume were written between
1847 and 1853. Others are of recent date, and a few
belong to the
intervening period. It has been thought
unnecessary to specify the earlier
work, as nothing is
included which the author believes to be immature.’
The above brief note was prefixed to these poems
when first published in
1870. They have now been
for some time out of print.
The fifty sonnets of the
The fragment of The Bride's Prelude
printed, was written very early, and is here associated
with other work of the same date; though its pub-
lication in an
unfinished form needs some indulgence.
* A Church legend of the Blessed Virgin's death.
* Donne che avete
intelletto
d'amore:
’
* Uguccione della Faggiuola, Dante's former protector, was
now his
fellow-guest at Verona.
*
’Messere, voi non vedreste tant 'ossa se cane io
fossi.
point of the reproach
is difficult to render, depending as it does on
the literal meaning
of the name Cane.
* Such was the last sentence passed by Florence against Dante,
as a
recalcitrant exile.
† E quindi uscimmo
a riveder le
’stelle.Inferno
Puro e disposto a salire
alle
’stelle.Purgatorio
L'amor che muove il sole e
l'altre
’stelle.Paradiso
*
’Quomodo sedet sola civitas!
the
‘ Vengeance of Jenny's case! Fie on her! Never
name her,
child! ’—(Mrs. Quickly.)
* During the excavations, the Tiyari workmen held their services
in
the shadow of the great bulls.—(Layard's
‘
ch. ix.)
* Date of the Coup d' État:
whenin the first line of the next stanza resembles a period.
End of Part I.
* The scene is in the house-porch, where Christ holds a bowl of
blood from which Zacharias is sprinkling the posts and lintel.
Joseph has brought the lamb and Elizabeth lights the pyre. The
shoes which John fastens and the bitter herbs which Mary is
gathering form part of the ritual.
* In the drawing Mary has left a procession of revellers, and
is
ascending by a sudden impulse the steps of the house where she
sees
Christ. Her lover has followed her and is trying to turn her back.
* The subject shows Cassandra prophesying among her kindred,
as
Hector leaves them for his last battle. They are on the
platform
of a fortress, from which the Trojan troops are
marching out. Helen
is arming Paris; Priam soothes Hecuba; and
Andromache holds the
child to her bosom.
London: Printed by Strangeways and Sons, Tower
Street,
Upper St. Martin's Lane.
BALLADS AND SONNETS.
BY
DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI.
Crown 8vo. Bound from the Author's
Design.
Price 12s.
Revised and Re-arranged Edition, crown 8vo. price 14s.
DANTE AND HIS CIRCLE;
With the Italian Poets preceding him.
(1100-1200-1300.)
A Collection of Lyrics,
Edited and Translated in the Original Metres,
By