Sister Helen (fair copy, lines 93-98, 205-273, British Library) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1 By permission of the British Library [Untitled] Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1879 fair copy Four manuscript pages made from one folded leaf. DGR DGR The British Library. Morris Collection Morris Papers (vol. XVI), Add. MSS 45353, ff. 19-22 unlined, cream: 180 x 228mm, 4 pages, one a double page unwatermarked Commentary
Introduction

DGR sent these four pages of manuscript additions to the poem in a letter to Jane Morris dated conjecturally November 1879. DGR called these “the new stanzas” showing “that the witch began her spell on the wedding-morning of her false lover. Thus the ‘alas for birth!’ which was of course not probable. I think you will agree that the gain to the subject is enormous—in fact, once thought of I cannot think how I never did it before. Moreover, the excess of her provocation (in spite of the height of her spite) humanizes her somewhat. I suppose you have the Tauchnitz edition which has several amendments” (see Bryson and Troxell ,124-126 ). The change that DGR talks about here was in the end kept out of the poem.

Textual History: Composition

Textual History: Revision

Production History

Reception History

Iconographic

Printing History

Pictorial

Historical

Literary

Translation

Autobiographical

Bibliographic

Troxell, <hi rend="i">Rossetti's Sister Helen</hi> . Bryson and Troxell , <hi rend="i">DGR and Jane Morris: Their Correspondence</hi> , 124-126.

To come after stanza beginning “The wind is loud but I hear him cry &c”) Note to locate the lines in the received poem. (The next six stanzas are to follow the stanza beginning “He cried to you kneeling in the road &c”) Note to locate the stanzas on the next two pages. “Three days & nights he has lain abed &c” DGR quotes the first line of the stanza that follows his first addition, to locate its placement. “Three days ago, on his marriage-morn, Sister Helen, He sickened, and lies since then forlorn.” “He'll scarce lie sick till a babe be born, Little brother?” (O Mother, Mary Mother, Alas for birth, between Hell & Heaven!) “A lady's here, by a dark steed brought, Sister Helen, So darkly clad, I saw her not.” “See her now or never see aught, Little brother!” (O Mother, Mary Mother, What more to see, between Hell & Heaven?) “Her hood falls back, & the moon shines fair, Sister Helen, On the Lady of Ewern's golden hair.” “Blest hour of my power & her despair, Little brother!” (O Mother, Mary Mother, Hour blest & bann'd, between Hell & Heaven!) “Pale, pale her cheeks, that in pride did glow, Sister Helen, 'Neath the bridal-wreath three days ago.” “One morn for pride & three days for woe, Little brother!” (O Mother, Mary Mother, Three days, three nights, between Hell & Heaven!) “Her clasped hands stretch from her bending head, Sister Helen; With the loud wind's wail her sobs are wed.” “What wedding-strains hath her bridal-bed, Little brother?” (O Mother, Mary Mother, What strain but death's, between Hell & Heaven?) “She may not speak, she sinks in a swoon, Sister Helen,— She lifts her lips & gasps on the moon.” “Oh! might I but hear her soul's blithe tune, Little brother!” (O Mother, Mary Mother, Her woe's dumb cry, between Hell & Heaven!) “They've caught her to Westholm's saddle-bow, Sister Helen, And her moonlit hair gleams white in its flow.” “Let it turn whiter than winter snow, Little brother!” (O Mother, Mary Mother, Woe-withered gold, between Hell & Heaven!) To follow the stanza beginning “They have raised the old man from his knee &c” DGR's note indicating this addition follows received stanza 38 “Flank to flank are the white steeds gone, Sister Helen, But the lady's dark steed goes alone.” “And lonely her bridegroom's soul hath flown, Little brother.” (O Mother, Mary Mother, The lonely ghost, between Hell & Heaven!)