My Lady Greensleeves

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

General Description

Date: 1863
Rhyme: abcbdb
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: fragment

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction

Despite its apparent isolation, the stanza seems complete, and was apparently written by DGR specifically to give a textual dimension to his picture My Lady Greensleeves. The lines also bear a close affinity with “The Staff and Scrip”, 81-85 .

Textual History: Composition

A corrected text of the verses appears in the Ashley Library's so-called Small Notebook I, which dates from the 1870s. This is somewhat peculiar since the picture, which dates from 1863, has a fair copy of the verses in DGR's hand pasted on the back.

Printing History

A text of the lines was first published among the “Versicles and Fragments” in WMR's 1911 collected edition (page 241).

Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Source File: 15-1873.raw.xml