The sonnet is “for” DGR's famous (unfinished) oil painting of the same title, which he began in 1853-54. The picture represents the climactic moment of a countryman's search for his sweetheart, who has become a prostitute in London. The sentimental literature dealing with this double work's story-picture is very large. DGR seems to have been most immediately inspired by William Bell Scott's “Rosabell”. Coming so late to the picture, the sonnet acquires a singularly personal significance, as it were a commentary on Rossetti's pictorial art in general, which he felt he had prostituted for the sake of worldly success.
Although the picture was begun as early as 1853, the sonnet was not written until quite late, shortly before 16 February 1881 (see DGR's letter of 16 February to Watts-Dunton, Correspondence
The
The sonnet was first printed in the 1881 Ballads and Sonnets
The sentimental literature dealing with this poem's subject
is very large. A classic point of reference is Goldsmith,
The Deserted Village
The Pre-Raphaelite Body
The Art of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. 1. Found
Found”DGR: An Illustrated Memorial
Found”Art Bulletin
Found”Delaware Art Museum Occasional Papers no. 1
DGR Designer and Writer
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
A Catalogue Raisonné
Visions of Love and Life