Commentary
Introduction
The date of this sonnet—1854—defines an
important subtextual function. The sonnet argues that an elective affinity
binds the love of the poet and his lady, here (in the context of the sonnet as
part of
<xref doc="a.44-1869.raw">The
House of Life</xref>
sequence) the Innominata. The fatality of
their love—its pre-existence, as it were—became clear, the poem
argues, when the
poet first met her. The model for such an idea comes, of course, from
Dante's
<xref doc="a.dante005.rad" link="dead">
<hi rend="i">Vita Nuova</hi>
</xref>
, from Dante's relation to Beatrice. But the argument
of the sonnet gains special force when we recall that DGR did not meet Jane
Burden Morris—the unnamed Innominata of the sequence—until
1857, three years after he wrote this sonnet. In the
context of his later employment of the sonnet in
<xref doc="a.44-1869.raw">The House of Life</xref>
sequence, DGR forces it to stand as a prophetic utterance. As such, the
sonnet itself becomes an index or exponent of its substantive
(Beatricean) thought.
Textual History: Composition
DGR wrote it in late July or possibly early August 1854; he sent a copy in a letter
to William Allingham with a note that it was
“written only two
or three days ago”
. Another copy, probably earlier, is part of the so-called Notebook II at the Duke University Library. A corrected copy is also gathered in the Fitzwilliam composite
“House of Life”
manuscript.
Textual History: Revision
The text of the sonnet DGR sent to Allingham in 1854
is significantly different from the one he printed in the 1870
<xref doc="a.1-1870.1stedn.rad" workcode="2-1854">Poems</xref>
.
DGR also made changes to the text during the 1869-1870 proof process.
Printing History
First printed in the Penkill Proofs in August 1869, it
passed through all the subsequent pre-publication documents
for the 1870
<xref doc="a.1-1870.1stedn.rad" workcode="2-1854">Poems</xref>
, where it was first published. It is
<xref doc="a.44-1869.raw">The House of Life</xref>
Sonnet XI in the 1870 volume, and Sonnet XV in 1881.
Literary
Lying just below the sonnet's explicit imagery is a
reference to the love-structure made famous by Dante in the
<xref doc="a.dante005.rad" link="dead">
<hi rend="i">Vita Nuova</hi>
</xref>
.
The sestet in particular recalls the opening section of the
<xref doc="a.dante005.rad" link="dead">
<hi rend="i">Vita Nuova</hi>
</xref>
.
Autobiographical
The autobiographical level of the sonnet changes its
character if it is read as part of
<xref doc="a.44-1869.raw">The House of Life</xref>
sequence or if it is not. In each case the beloved is imagined in
Beatricean terms. But as an integral sonnet (written in 1854), one inclines
to read it in relation to DGR's love for Elizabeth Siddal; whereas if
one reads it in
<xref doc="a.44-1869.raw">The House of Life</xref>
sequence, where it is
associated with the Innominata, Jane Morris emerges as the poet's
soul's birth-partner
.
Bibliographic
Baum, ed.,
<hi rend="i">The House of Life</hi>
, 87-88
WMR,
<hi rend="i">DGR as Designer and Writer</hi>
, 194-195