Lyrics, &c. (Princeton/Troxell bound manuscript volume) Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1 Princeton University Library, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections Lyrics, &c. Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1880-1881 [cover sheet], 1-22 The texts were written and gathered for the printer in 1881-1882 but the collection was bound much later by Charles Fairfax Murray. DGR Princeton University Library 23289 As the bookplate on the endpapers shows, the volume was owned and put together by Charles Fairfax Murray. J ALLEN & SONS / SUPERFINE 22.2 x 18.1 cm The watermark of the coversheet is different: GURNEY / IVORY LAID Commentary
Introduction

This volume, bound up by Fairfax Murray, represents the printer's copy manuscripts of the poems that were printed in the third section of DGR's 1881 <hi rend="i">Ballads and Sonnets</hi> volume. The individual manuscripts represent states of the poems with readings that were subsequently removed in the published text. Cancelled readings also abound in the manuscripts, which also sometimes lack readings that DGR later added.

Textual History: Composition

Textual History: Revision

Production History

Reception History

Iconographic

Printing History

Pictorial

Historical

Literary

Translation

Autobiographical

Bibliographic

The bookplates of Charles Fairfax Murray and collector Janet C. Troxell are pasted on the inside front cover endpaper. 22 x 18 inches unruled ivory GURNEY IVORY LAID The 1st section of Chimes not published WMR's note in upper left corner of the page. Original printer's copy for Poems & Ballads 1881 WMR's note in lower left corner of the page. blank page blank page blank page blank page To comebeforethe SonnetsSent now. Ink notation in upper right corner, set off with a bordering stroke. Lyrics, &c. blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS SUPER FINE <hi rend="center">Soothsay</hi> Let no man ask thee of anything Not yearborn between Spring & Spring. More of all worlds than he can know, Each day the single sun doth show. A trustier gloss than thou canst give From all wise scrolls demonstrative, The sea doth sigh and the wind sing. Let no man awe thee on any height Of earthly kingship's mouldering might. The dust his heel holds meet for thy brow Hath all of it been what both are now; And thou and he may plague together A beggar's eyes in some dusty weather When none that is now knows sound or sight. Crave thou no dower of earthly things Unworthy Hope's imaginings. To have brought true birth of Song to be And to have won hearts to Poesy, Or any where in the sun or rain To have loved and been beloved again, Is loftiest reach of Hope's bright wing. Stanza marked for insertion above the first stanza on the following page. The wild waifs cast up by the sea Are diverse ever seasonably. Even so the soul-tides still may land A separate different drift upon the sand. But one the sea is evermore: And one be still, 'twixt shore and shore, As the sea's life, thy soul in thee. Stanza marked for insertion between the second and third stanzas of the following page. Let thy soul strive that still the same Be early friendship's sacred flame. The affinities have strongest part In youth, and draw men heart to heart: As life wears on and finds no rest, The individual in each breast Is tyrannous to sunder them. 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE Dost vaunt the Poet? Musing on Muse upon The work another's mind hath done;— Its beauties first shall Do first its beauties touch thy thought? And Then pondering what thyself hast wrought;— Thou first shalt sigh Is first thy word, “Alas! how far Behind conception's guiding star!”? True Poet elsewise thou art none. Say, hast thou pride? How then may fit Thy mood with flatterers' silk-spun wit? Haply the sweet voice lifts thy crest, A breeze of fame made manifest. Nay, but then chaf'st at flattery? Pause: Be sure that it thy wrath is not because It makes thee feel thou lovest it. In the life-drama's stern cue-call, A friend's a part well-prized by all: And if thou meet an enemy, What art thou that none such should be? Even so: but if the two parts run Into each other and grow one, Then comes the curtain's cue to fall. Stanza marked for insertion above first stanza on the following page. Whate'er by other's need is claimed More than by thine,—to him unblamed Resign it: and if he should hold What more than he thou lack'st, bread, gold, Or any good whereby we live,— To thee such substance let him give Freely: nor he nor thou be shamed. 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE DG's passion Note, perhaps by Fairfax Murray, in left margin beside lines 74-75. Strive that thy works prove equal: lest That work which thou hast done the best Should come to be to thee at length (Even as to Envy seems the strength Of others) hateful and abhorr'd,— Thine own above thyself made lord,— Of self-rebuke the bitterest. Unto the man of yearning thought And aspiration, to do nought Is in itself almost an act,— Being chasm-fire and cataract Of the soul's utter depths unseal'd. Yet woe to thee if once thou yield Unto the act of doing nought! How callous seems beyond revoke The clock with its last listless stroke! How much too late at last!—to snatch trace A glance at the foredawning watch The hour on its forewarning face, The thing thou hast not dared to do!. . . . Behold, this may be thus! Ere true It prove, arise and bear thy yoke. blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE Let lore of man's all Theology Be to thy soul what it can be: But know,—the Power that fashions man Measured not out thy little span For thee to take the meting-rod In turn, and so approve on God Thy science of Theometry. To God at best, to Chance at worst, Give thanks for good things, last as first. But windstrown blossom is that good Whose apple is not gratitude. Even if no prayer uplift thy face, Let the sweet right to render grace As thy soul's cherished child be nurs'd. Didst ever say, “Lo, I forget”? Such thought was to remember yet. As in a gravegarth, count to see The monuments of memory. Be this thy soul's appointed scope:— Gaze onward without claim to hope, Nor, gazing backward, brook court regret. ----------- blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE 172422 5 <hi rend="center">Chimes.</hi> <hi rend="center">I.</hi> Amber, jewel and amethyst, And all for my lady's wrist. The amethyst and the amber fair, And all for my lady's hair. Argent amber and amethyst, And all for my lady's wrist. Argent's heavy and amber rare, And all for my lady's hair. <hi rend="center">II.</hi> A honey-cell's in the honeysuckle, And the honey-bee knows it well. The honey-comb has a heart of honey, And the humming bee's so bonny. A honey-flower's the honeysuckle, And the bee's in the honey-bell. The honeysuckle is sucked of honey, And the bee is heavy and bonny. blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE <hi rend="center">III.</hi> Honey-flowers for the honey-comb And the honey bee's from home. A honeycomb and a honeyflower, And the bee shall have his hour. A honeyed heart for the honeycomb And the humming bee flies home. A heavy heart in the honey flower, And the bee has had his hour. <hi rend="center">IV.</hi> Brown shell first for the butterfly And a bright wing by and by. Butterfly, good bye to your shell, And, bright wings, speed you well. Bright lamplight for the butterfly And a burnt wing by and by. Butterfly, alas for your shell, And bright wings, fare you well. blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE <hi rend="center">V.</hi> Lost love-labour and lullaby, And lowly let love lie. Lost love-morrow and love-fellow And love's life lying low. Lovelorn labour and life laid by And lowly let love lie. Late love-longing and life-sorrow And love's life lying low. <hi rend="center">VI.</hi> Beauty's body and benison With a bosom-flower new blown. Bitter beauty and blessing bann'd With a breast to burn and brand. Beauty's bower in the dust o'erblown With a bare white breast of bone. Barren beauty and bower of sand With a blast on either hand. blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE <hi rend="center">VII.</hi> Buried bars in the breakwater And bubble of the brimming weir. Body's blood in the breakwater And a buried body's beir. Buried bones in the breakwater And bubble of the brimming brawling weir. Bitter tears in the breakwater And a breaking heart to bear. <hi rend="center">VIII.</hi> Hollow heaven and the hurricane And hurry of the heavy rain. Hurried clouds in the hollow heaven And a heavy rain hard-driven. The heavy rain it hurries amain And heaven and the hurricane. Hurrying wind o'er the heaven's hollow And the heavy rain to follow. --------------- DGR has cancelled the fair copied text on this verso. The text is written vertically, bottom to top. <hi rend="center">Filippo Bourke Marston<lb/> eximio Poetę cœcigine <lb/>me carminibus incitunti</hi> Sweet Poet, thou of whom these years that roll Must one day yet the burdened birthright learn, And by the darkness of thine eyes discern How piercing was the light within thy soul;— Gifted apart, thou goest to the great goal, A cloud-bound radiant spirit, strong to earn, Light-reft, that prize for which fond myriads yearn Vainly light-blest,—the Seėr's aureole. And doth thine ear, divinely dowered to catch All spheral sounds in thy song blent so well, Still hearken for my voice's slumbering spell With wistful love? Ah! let the Muse now snatch My wreath for thy young brows, and bend to watch Thy veiled transfiguring sense's miracle. Oct. 1878 ------------- 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE DGR has crossed out duplicate erasures of rejected titles in the upper right corner. One erasure is clearly different but is indecipherable. At the bottom of the page, a line and "x" indicate where additional material, presumably written on the facing page, was to be inserted after the third stanza. However, that facing page was not preserved. 5 9 DGR's pagination at upper right <hi rend="center"> <del> A Life Parting<lb/> Two Partings         Parted Presence</del> <lb/> <add>Parted Presence</add> </hi> Love, I speak to your heart, Your heart that is always here. Oh draw me deep to its sphere, Though you and I are apart; And yield, by the spirit's art, All Each distant gifts that are is dear. O love, my love, you are here! Your eyes are afar to-day, Yet, love, look now in mine eyes. Two hearts sent forth may despise All dead things by the way. All between is decay, Dead hours and this hour that dies, O love, look deep in mine eyes! Your hands to-day are not here, Yet lay them, love, in my hands. The hourglass sheds its sands All day for the dead hours' bier; But now, as two hearts draw near, This hour like a flower expands. O love, your hands in my hands! Stanza marked for insertion above the first stanza of the facing page. Your voice is not on the air, Yet, love, I can hear your voice: It bids my heart to rejoice As knowing your heart is there,— A music sweet to declare The truth of your steadfast choice. O love, how sweet is your voice! 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE 6 10 DGR's pagination at upper right To-day your lips are afar, Yet pressdrawmy lips to them, love. Around, beneath, and above, Is frost to bind and to bar; But where I am and you are, Desire and the fire thereof. O kiss me, kiss me, my love! Your heart is never away, But ever with mine, for ever, For ever without endeavour, To-morrow, love, as to-day; Two blent hearts never astray, Two souls no power may sever, Together, O my love, for ever! ---------- blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE <hi rend="center"> <del>A Death Parting</del>         <del>II</del> <del>7</del> <lb/> <del>II.</del>         <del>Worlds-apart</del>         <del>The Water Willow </del> <lb/> <add> <del>II</del> A Death-Parting</add> </hi> Leaves and rain and the days of the year, (Water-willow and wellaway,) All these fall, and my soul gives ear, And she is hence who once was here. (With a wind blown night and day.) Ah! but now, for a secret sign, (The willow's wan and the water white,) In the held breath of the day's decline Her very face seemed pressed to mine. (With a wind blown day & night.) O love, of my death my life is fain; (The willows wave on the water-way,) Your cheek and mine are cold in the rain, But warm they'll be when we meet again. (With a wind blown night & day.) Mists are heaved and cover the sky; (The willows wail in the waning light,) O loose your lips, leave space for a sigh,— They seal my soul, I cannot die. (With a wind blown day and night.) Leaves and rain and the days of the year, (Water-willow and wellaway,) All still fall, and I still give ear, And she is hence, and I am here. (With a wind blown night and day.) --------------------- blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE 8 12 DGR's pagination at upper right <hi rend="center">Spheral Change.</hi> In this new shade of Death, the show Passes me still of form and face; Some bent, some gazing as they go, Some swiftly, some at a dull pace, Not one that speaks in any case. If only one might speak!—the one Who never waits till I come near; But always seated all alone As listening to the sunken air, Is gone before I come to her. O dearest! while we lived and died A living death in every day, We Some hours we still were sometimes side by side, And When where I was you too might stay And rest and need not go away. O nearest, furthest! Can there be At length some hard-earned heart-won home, Where,—exile changed for sanctuary,— Our lot may fill indeed its sum, And you may wait and I may come? -------------- We two may end our martyrdom blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE 13 9 DGR's pagination at upper right <hi rend="center">Sunset Wings</hi> To-night this sunset spreads two golden wings Cleaving the western sky; Winged too with wind it is, and winnowings Of birds; as if the day's last hour in rings Of strenuous flight must die. Sun-steeped in fire, the homeward pinions sway Above the dovecote-tops; And clouds of starlings, ere they rest with day, Sink, clamorous like mill-waters, at wild play, By turns in every copse: Each tree heart-deep the wrangling rout receives,— Save for the whirr within, You could not tell the starlings from the leaves; Then one great puff of wings, and the swarm heaves Away with all its din. Even thus Hope's hours, in ever-eddying flight, To many a refuge tend; With the first light she laughed, and the last light Glows round her still; who natheless in the night At length must make an end. blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE 14 10 DGR's pagination at upper right And now the mustering rooks innumerable Together sail and soar, While for the day's death, like a tolling knell, Unto the heart they seem to cry, Farewell, No more, farewell, no more! Is Hope not plumed, as 'twere a fiery dart? Therefore,O And oh! thou dying day, Even as thou goest must she too depart, And Sorrow fold such pinions on the heart As will not fly away? blank page 22 x 18 inches unruled <hi rend="center"> <del>A</del> Song & Music.</hi> ------------- O leave your hand where it lies cool Upon the eyes whose lids are hot: Its rosy shade is bountiful Of silence, & assuages thought. O lay your lips against your hand And let me feel your breath through it, While through the sense your song shall fit The soul to understand. The music lives upon my brain Between your hands within mine eyes; It stirs your lifted throat like pain, An aching pulse of melodies. Lean nearer, let the music pause: The soul may better understand Your music, shadowed in your hand, Now while the song withdraws. ------------------------- blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE <hi rend="center">Three Shadows.</hi> --------------- I looked and saw your eyes In the shadow of your hair, As a traveller sees the stream In the shadow of the wood; And I said, “My faint heart sighs, Ah me! to linger there, To drink deep and to dream In that sweet solitude.” I looked and saw your heart In the shadow of your eyes, As a seeker sees the gold In the shadow of the stream; And I said, “Ah me! what art Should win the immortal prize, Whose want must make life cold And Heaven a hollow dream?” I looked and saw your love In the shadow of your heart, As a diver sees the pearl In the shadow of the sea; And I murmured, not above My breath, but all apart,— “Ah! she you can love, sweet girl, And does love, and loves is your love for me?” --------------- blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE 12 16 DGR's pagination at upper right <hi rend="center">Alas, so long!</hi> --------------------- Ah! dear one, we were young so long, It seemed that youth would never go, For skies and trees were ever in song And water in singing flow In the days we never again shall know. Alas, so long! Ah! then was it all Spring weather? Nay, but were we not were both young together? Ah! dear one, I've been old so long, It seems that age is loth to part, Though days and years have never a song, And oh! have they still the art To warm That warmed the pulses of heart to heart? Alas, so long! Ah! then was it all Spring weather? Nay, but were we not were both young together. Ah! dear one, you've been dead so long,— How long until we meet again, Where hours may never lose their song Nor flowers forget the rain In that glad noonlight that never shall wane? Alas, so long! Ah! shall it be when then Spring weather, And ah! shall we be young together? -------------- blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE 17 13 17 DGR's pagination at upper right <hi rend="center">Adieu.</hi> Waving whispering trees, What do you say to the breeze And what says the breeze to you? 'Mid passing souls ill at ease, Moving murmuring trees, Would ye ever wave an Adieu? Tossing torturous turbulent seas, Winds that wrestle with these, Echo heard in the shell,— 'Mid fleeting life ill at ease, Restless ravening seas,— Would the echo sigh Farewell? Surging sumptuous skies, For ever a new surprise, Clouds eternally new,— Is every flake that flies, Widening wandering skies, For a sign—Farewell, Adieu? Sinking suffering heart That know'st how weary thou art,— Soul so fain for a flight,— Aye, spread your wings to depart, Sad soul and sorrowing heart,— Adieu, Farewell, Goodnight. ---------------------- blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE 14 18 DGR's pagination at upper right <hi rend="center">Insomnia.</hi> Thin are the night-skirts left behind By daybreak hours that onward creep, And thin, alas! the shred of sleep That wavers with the spirit's wind: But in half-dreams that shift and roll And still remember and forget, My soul this hour has drawn your soul A little nearer yet. Our lives, most dear, are never near, Our thoughts are never far apart, ThusThough all that draws us heart to heart Seems fainter now and now more clear. Tonight Love claims his full control, And with desire and with regret My soul this hour has drawn your soul A little nearer yet. Is there a home where heavy earth Melts to bright air that breathes no pain, Where water leaves no thirst again And springing fire is Love's new birth? If faith long bound to one true goal May there at length its hope beget, My soul that hour shall draw your soul For ever nearer yet. ----------------------- blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE 15 15 19 DGR's pagination at upper right <hi rend="center">Possession.<lb/>----</hi> There is a cloud above the sunset hill, That wends and makes no stay, For its goal lies beyond the fiery west; A lingering breath no calm can chase away, The onward labour of the wind's last will; A flying foam that overleaps the crest Of the top wave: and in possession still A further reach of longing; though at rest From all the yearning years, Together in the bosom of that day Ye cling, and with your kisses drink your tears. -------------------- blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE 23 26 20 DGR's pagination at upper right <hi rend="center">The Cloud Confines</hi> -------------------- The day is dark and the night To him that would search their heart; No lips of cloud that will part Nor morning song in the light: Only, gazing alone, To him wild shadows are shown, Deep under deep unknown And height above unknown height. Still we say as we go,— “Strange to think by the way, Whatever there is to know, That shall we know one day.” The Past is over and fled; Named new, we name it the old; Thereof some tale hath been told, But no word comes from the dead; Whether at all they be, Or whether as bond or free, Or whether they too were we, Or by what spell they have sped. Still we say as we go,— “Strange to think by the way, Whatever there is to know, That shall we know one day.” Two unpublished stanzas are transcribed on this verso, but then cancelled by DGR. The Present is but one coil Of a snake wherewith we strive: It clings to our days all things alive But drops them dead to the soul: And yet it keeps as it goes Some print of our moulding throes, Some change from the vanished foes Whose crown it wears for a spoil. Still we say as we go,— “Strange to think by the way, Whatever there is to know, That shall we know one day.” Even as we writhe and strain, The Future is onward roll'd In the great snake's course, fold on fold: Yet ah! do we scape the chain? Or shall not each spark life forth-hurl'd Again in new life flesh be furl'd, And what we made of the world Fall back on ourselves again? Still we say as we go,— “Strange to think by the way, Whatever there is to know, That shall we know one day.” 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE What of the heart of Hate hate That beats in thy heart to thy steps in thy breast, O Time?— Red strife from the furthest prime, And anguish of fierce debate; War that shatters her slain, And peace that grinds them as grain, And eyes fixed ever in vain On the pitiless eyes of Fate. Still we say as we go,— “Strange to think by the way, Whatever there is to know, That shall we know one day.” What of the heart of Love love That bleeds in thy breast, O Man?— Thy kisses snatched 'neath the ban Of fangs that mock them above; Thy bells prolonged unto knells, Thy hope that a breath dispels, Thy bitter forlorn farewells And the empty echoes thereof? Still we say as we go,— “Strange to think by the way, Whatever there is to know, That shall we know one day.” blank page 21.8 x 18.1 inches ruled J ALLEN & SONS / SUPER FINE DGR has a series of cancelled attempts at the poem's final refrain. Two of these are transcribed at the very foot of the page. The sky leans dumb on the sea, Aweary with all its wings; And oh! the song the sea sings Is dark everlastingly. Our past is clean forgot, Our present is and is not, Our future's a sealed seedplot, And what betwixt them are we?— What wouldst say as we go,— Atoms that nought can sever What thoughts to think by the way? From one world circling will What Truth may there be to know To that at its heart for ever And shall we know it one day? Yet never to know it still. We who say as we go,— “Strange to think by the way, Whatever there is to know, That shall we know one day.” -------------------- And what can/must our birthright be O never from thee to sever Blind thou wilt/ That wast & shalt be & art— To throb at the heart for ever Yet never to know thy heart -------------------- What words to say as we go? What thoughts to think by the way? What truth may there be to know, And shall we know it one day?