Commentary
Introduction
This poem and its companion piece
<xref doc="a.41-1869.raw">My Father's Close</xref>
underscore the connection between DGR's work and the symbolist
movement in France. Among the Pre-Raphaelite poets only Swinburne is
regularly connected with that important contemporary school of French
writing, but it is clear that DGR's work connects with it as well, perhaps
at least as much as his friend Swinburne's work does.
DGR's translation of the old French ballad is undertaken under the auspices
of the poetry of Gerard de Nerval, who resuscitated the French ballad in
1842, along with the original of
<xref doc="a.41-1869.raw">“My Father's Close”</xref>
. When Swinburne reviewed DGR's 1870
<xref doc="a.1-1870.raw">Poems</xref>
, where both of the translations first appeared, he specifically
called attention to Nerval when he remarked on DGR's translations (see the
<xref doc="a.ap4.f7.rad" link="dead" workcode="40-1869">
<hi rend="i">Fortnightly Review</hi>
</xref>
, May 1870
).
Textual History: Composition
It was probably translated in 1869, sometime before August, when the manuscript was put
into print by DGR in the Penkill Proofs for the forthcoming 1870
<xref doc="a.1-1870.1stedn.rad" workcode="40-1869" from="182">Poems</xref>
. WMR dates it 1869
in 1911.
Textual History: Revision
Swinburne tried hard to persuade DGR to alter the expressions like
“What's” and “It's” to
“What is” and “It is”, but he
did not succeed. He regarded them as slang usage, and hence inapt for the
translation of such texts. Swinburne was right about the slang, though not
perhaps about the larger aesthetic point; in any case, DGR had his way (see
Fredeman,
Correspondence
,
70. 38
).
Printing History
It is first printed in the Penkill Proofs, the first of the
prepublication texts DGR prepared for the eventual publication of his 1870
<xref doc="a.1-1870.1stedn.rad" workcode="40-1869">Poems</xref>
; reprinted in the “New Edition” of 1881 and collected thereafter.
Translation
It is unclear which edition, or editions, DGR used when translating this Old
French ballad, but it is probable that he knew and used Gerard de Nerval's
version of both texts (first published in
<xref doc="a.sylphide.rad" link="dead">
<hi rend="i">La Sylphide</hi>
</xref>
for 9 July 1842
, and after various further reprintings, collected in his
<xref doc="a.denerval001.rad" link="dead">
<hi rend="i">Oeuvres completes</hi>
</xref>
(1867-69)). DGR's translation is four lines
longer than Nerval's French text, but there are other French texts which
contain the material in DGR's work.
Bibliographic
Gregory
<hi rend="i">Life and Works of Dante Gabriel Rossetti.</hi>
II. 124
Lang, “
<xref doc="a.pmla.002.rad" link="dead" workcode="40-1869" from="1219" to="1222">“French Originals”</xref>
, 1949), 1219-1222