English May May 1869 Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1 1869
abbaaccadeedde iambic pentameter sonnet
<artist/> <location/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnpictorial> <citnmythic> <name/> <culture/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnmythic> <citnhistorical> <event/> <place/> <date/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnhistorical> <citnautobiographical> <name/> <place/> <date/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnautobiographical> <citnscenic> <place/> <date/> <bibl/> <note/> </citnscenic> </listcitn> </source> <commentaries> <head>Commentary</head> <section type="intro"> <head>Introduction</head> <p>The sonnet, addressed to Jane Morris, was originally intended for <xref doc="a.44-1869.raw"> <title level="wrk">“The House of Life” . It is very much an occasional work, addressing Jane's ill health that grew worse through the spring and early summer of 1869. In July her condition was such that Morris finally decided to take her to a German health spa in Ems.

The sonnet pivots on a witty comparison and contrast between the regenerative powers of nature and of art, which DGR explicitly connects to himself and his Italian heritage. Over against “May's lyre” (6) DGR sets the “breath of Italy” which (the poem suggests) pervades both his spirit and the poetry that issues from that spirit, including this sonnet.

Textual History: Composition

Three manuscripts descend to us: a lightly corrected fair copy in the Bodleian that DGR sent to Jane; a fair copy in the Fitzwilliam composite “House of Life” manuscript; and another lightly corrected fair copy in the Getty Library manuscript book.

Textual History: Revision

Production History

Reception

Iconographic

Printing History

First published in WMR's 1886 collected edition and kept thereafer.

Pictorial

Historical

Literary

Translation

Autobiographical

Bibliographic

Doughty, 389-92

The Fitzwilliam Museum fair copy. The Fitzwilliam Museum fair copy. The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, vol. 1 (1886) Dante Gabriel Rossetti William Michael Rossetti 1886 0 The House of Life (composite manuscript posthumously arranged, Fitzwilliam Museum) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1845 - 1881 0 Bodleian Notebook II DGR 1870-1880 ? 0 Rossetti Album (miscellaneous collection, Getty/Wormsley Library) DGR and others 1835-1933 0 The Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1911) Dante Gabriel Rossetti William Michael Rossetti 1911 0