Commentary
Introduction
The formal structure of the sonnet is especially apt
for the subject of this work and DGR's pictorial conception. Cassandra's
prophecy rhymes with Hector's action in that both are full of tension
and energy, but in each case they will prove ineffective. Nevertheless,
the sonnets seem far less successful than the picture in carrying out DGR's
conceptual purposes.
The work stands in a central relation to
his oeuvre in general. Of course
it relates quite directly to
<xref doc="a.30-1869.s219.raw">
<hi rend="i">Troy
Town</hi>
</xref>
, but it intersects
as well with many of his other works. DGR was not
only preoccupied with tales of cultural armageddon, he took
a syncretic approach to literary, mythological, and religious materials. Greek
myths like the fall of Troy therefore connect to contemporary events, as well
as to other analogous or parallel stories from other cultures. So here, DGR
handles his material in a way that recalls the monitory elements in (for example)
<xref doc="a.1-1850.raw">
<hi rend="i">The Burden of
Nineveh</hi>
</xref>
and
<xref doc="a.3-1848.raw">
<hi rend="i">Jenny</hi>
</xref>
. Other poems
clearly stand in other kinds of
relations:
<xref doc="a.3-1849.raw">
<hi rend="i">The
Card-Dealer</hi>
</xref>
,
for example, or
<xref doc="a.2-1851.s220.raw">
<hi rend="i">Sister
Helen</hi>
</xref>
. In the end, all of these dark
testaments pour themselves into the sea of
DGR's own psyche, and particularly into
his masterwork
<xref doc="a.44-1869.raw">
<hi rend="i">The House of Life</hi>
</xref>
.
In the 1870
<xref doc="a.1-1870.1stedn.rad" workcode="27-1869.s127">
<hi rend="i">Poems</hi>
</xref>
the
sonnets are the first in a sequence that includes
<xref doc="a.4-1868.s173.raw">
<hi rend="i">Venus
Verticordia</hi>
</xref>
,
<xref doc="a.22-1869.s224.raw">
<hi rend="i">Pandora</hi>
</xref>
, and
<xref doc="a.6-1849.raw">
<hi rend="i">On Refusal of Aid Between
Nations</hi>
</xref>
. The contemporary context of the
last of these should not obscure its pertinence to
the three classical texts that precede it; and of course the pictorial
treatments of those texts form part of the constellation of works
in which DGR reflects on signs of cultural doom.
Textual History: Composition
This was one of the “seven new
sonnets”
DGR wrote
and sent to his printer in mid-September 1869 (see
Fredeman,
<hi rend="i">Correspondence</hi>
, 69. 154
).
As the Princeton MS of the two sonnets indicates, the sonnet
which comes first in the printed pair-ordering was almost certainly written second,
thus making initially a kind of commentary on the other. (This MS is an early draft where the text is still unsettled.) Two other manuscripts (both also at Princeton) survive: a corrected fair copy of the first sonnet and a fair copy of the second sonnet.
Textual History: Revision
DGR made a few small substantive changes to the text
of the second sonnet as
it was passing through the proofs of 1869-1870. The 1870
<xref doc="a.1-1870.1stedn.rad" workcode="27-1869.s127">
<hi rend="i">Poems</hi>
</xref>
text
of both sonnets remained unaltered thereafter.
Production History
DGR executed the drawing in 1860 and finished it late that
year or very early in 1861, but it was
much reworked in 1867. DGR said that he hoped to do a painting of the
subject but he never did. There is a
sketch of a warrior made by DGR on the
verso of the British Library manuscript of
<xref doc="a.5-1869.raw">
<hi rend="i">Nuptial
Sleep</hi>
</xref>
that strongly resembles the figure of Hector in the
picture. It may be a study for the painting DGR never executed.
Iconographic
The subject strongly attracted DGR, as can be easily seen in his
detailed comments to Charles Eliot Norton in April 1869: “The Cassandra subject I hope one day to paint. I mean her to be prophesying the death of Hector before his last battle. He will not be deterred from going, & rushes at last down the steps, giving an order across her noise to the captain in charge of the soldiers who are going round the ramparts on their way to battle. Cassandra tears her garments in rage & despair. Helen is arming Paris in a leisurely way, & he is amused at the gradual rage she is getting into at what Cassandra says of her. Other figures are Andromache with Hector's child, the Nurse, Priam & Hecuba, & one of the brothers who is expostulating with Cassandra. Hector's companions have got down the steps before him & are beckoning him to follow” (see
Fredeman,
<hi rend="i">Correspondence</hi>
, 69. 48
).
It
focuses DGR's fascination—shared with many of
his contemporaries—for mythic tales of general cultural destruction. As is so
common in Victorian narrative and Pre-Raphaelite painting,
DGR dramatizes the fear of such catastrophe by concentrating on
intimate psychological signs and details.
Printing History
The text was first set in type in mid-September 1869
for the A2 Proofs
of what would eventually be published as the 1870
<xref doc="a.1-1870.1stedn.rad" workcode="27-1869.s127">
<hi rend="i">Poems</hi>
</xref>
.
Literary
According to George Meredith, it was
his poem
<xref doc="a.meredith001.rad" link="dead">
<hi rend="i">Cassandra</hi>
</xref>
that inspired DGR to do his original drawing in 1861. Peterson says that
DGR's work was responding in particular to stanza 3 (see Peterson,
“The Iliad”,
334
). Both Meredith and Rossetti are of course
dependent upon
<xref doc="a.homer1.rad" link="dead">
<hi rend="i">The
Iliad</hi>
</xref>
and the mythological deposits relating to the fall of Troy.
Bibliographic
Marillier,
<hi rend="i">DGR: An Illustrated Memorial</hi>
, 108-110
Peterson,
“The Iliad”
, (1966), 329-337
WMR,
<hi rend="i">DGR Designer and Writer</hi>
, 77
Sharp,
<hi rend="i">DGR: A Record and a Study</hi>
, 171-172
Surtees,
<hi rend="i">A Catalogue Raisonné</hi>
I. 80-81