Dawn on the Night Journey Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1 1855
abbaaccadefdef 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 distinctly recalls <xref doc="a.2-1853.raw"> <title level="wrk">“The Hill Summit” and, to a lesser extent, “The Landmark” , both of which were written in the early/mid 50s. All three treat the theme of a journey shadowed by a sense of loss and ominous possibilities.

Textual History: Composition

No manuscript of the poem has appeared. WMR, who first published it, dated the sonnet 1855 but gave no reason for assigning that date.

Textual History: Revision

Production History

Reception

Iconographic

Printing History

First published by WMR in his 1886 edition (I. 303), and collected thereafter.

Pictorial

Historical

Literary

Translation

Autobiographical

If the date of 1855 is correct, and if we may take lines 12-13 to have a basis in reality, the poem may have been written in late June 1855 when DGR travelled to Clevedon, on the Somerset coast, to be with Elizabeth.

Bibliographic

1911 See WMR's note (1911). 1911 The Collected Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, vol. 1 (1886) Dante Gabriel Rossetti William Michael Rossetti 1886 0 Poems and Sonnets. MSS. D. G. Rossetti (Texas miscellaneous collection) DGR 1848-1910 0 The Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1911) Dante Gabriel Rossetti William Michael Rossetti 1911 0