The Blessed Damozel, I Stanza
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Transcript of The Blessed Damozel, I Stanza
Spic Seminar Hall13th July 2011II HourIII BA LiteratureThe Blessed DamozelbyS. Nehru
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL
D. G. ROSSETTI
D. G. ROSSETTILIFE AND WORKS
D. G. ROSSETTI
• Rossetti was born in London• 12th May 1828• Son of Gabrielle Rosetti• Three Siblings• All were artistic• His sister Christina became a poet• His brother William Michael was art critic• His sister Maria Francesca published a
commentary on Dante
D. G. ROSSETTI
• Rossetti's name was Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti
• But he changed the order of his name to stress his Italian antecedents and his relationship to Dante
• From the start Rossetti divided his time between painting and literature
D. G. ROSSETTI
• He showed an early talent for poetry winning acclaim for The Blessed Damozel at eighteen
• He was an admirer of William Blake and succeeded in buying one of Blake's sketchbooks with ten shillings borrowed from his brother
D. G. ROSSETTI
• After studying at Sass's drawing academy for four years, in 1846 Rossetti was enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools
• However, he was impatient with the painstaking methods of the Academy and abandoned his studies there to work under Ford Madox Brown
• In 1848 he met Holman Hunt, and they shared a studio together for a time
D. G. ROSSETTI
• In 1848 he, William Holman Hunt, and John Everett Millais began to call themselves the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
• Rosetti's range of talents and interests, combined with his energy and enthusiasm, made him a central figure in the the group
• A commission to cover the walls of the Oxford Debating Union with Arthurian murals introduced Rossetti to William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, and A.C. Swinburne in 1856
D. G. ROSSETTI
• Rosetti attracted the young Burne-Jones and William Morris to the Pre-Raphaelites
• He exhibited his first major oil painting, The Girlhood of the Virgin Mary at the Free Exhibition in March 1849
• In September and October of that year he visited Paris and Flanders with Holman Hunt
D. G. ROSSETTI
• He also met his future wife and frequent model Elizabeth Siddall late in 1849 and they married in 1860
• In 1862 she died from an overdose of laudanum and Rosetti buried his poems in her grave
• He was largely responsible for the Pre-Raphaelite magazine The Germ, published in 1850
D. G. ROSSETTI
• In April 1850 he exhibited Ecce Ancilla Domini! at the National Institution
• From 1854 he became friendly with John Ruskin who helped bring the Pre-Raphaelites to public attention, and in 1855 with the poet Robert Browning
• In 1856 he was a contributor to Morris's Oxford and Cambridge Magazine
D. G. Rossetti
• In 1857 he met Jane Burden who married William Morris but she and Rossetti had an intimate relationship over a long period
• In 1858 Rossetti founded the Hogarth Club, an exhibiting and social club, with Madox Brown and others
• Around this time Fanny Cornforth became his primary model and mistress for the next decade
D. G. Rossetti
• Rossetti's translation of The Early Italian Poets was published in 1861
• From 1861 Rossetti was also involved with Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. in their attempts to return to medieval craftesmanship
• Stained-glass windows became by far their most important product
D. G. Rossetti
• However, the firm was always in financial difficulties and was often subsidized by Morris
• Rosetti's design for Christ Church Southgate is in the South West corner of the church on the West wall
• The left hand figure of St James is the work of Burne Jones
• The right hand figure of St Jude carrying a halberd is the work of Rosetti
D. G. Rossetti
• Both figures are surmounted by angels carrying shields
• From the mid-1860s Rosetti began suffering from eye trouble and insomnia, and showed signs of paranoia
• In October 1869 he exhumed his wife's coffin to retrieve his Poems, which were published in 1870
D. G. Rossetti
• The book was a success but caused a controversy when it was reviewed in 1871 by Robert Buchanan in an essay called "The Fleshly School of Poetry"
• Buchanan argued that Rosetti's book was full of indecencies and this started a series of further attacks, defenses and counterattacks
• Rossetti wrote an essay of self- defense called "The Stealthy School of Criticism"
D. G. Rossetti
• Rosetti's health broke down in 1872 and he abandoned many of his old friendships
• A new edition of Poems was published in 1881 together with Ballads and Sonnets
• He died at Birchington-on-Sea, Kent on 9th April 1882
The blessed damozel lean'd out From the gold bar of Heaven; Her eyes were deeper than the depth Of waters still'd at even; She had three lilies in her hand, And the stars in her hair were seven.
The blessed Damozel
• Blessed- heavenly, holy, sacred, bliss, happiness, joy, gifted, favoured with blessings, favoured by God
• Damozel- a young unmarried woman or girl, maiden
Why is she blessed?
• She is favoured by God. So she is in heaven. Thus she is blessed
• She is lucky to be in heaven
• She is gifted with heaven
Gold bar of heaven
• It is balustrade or parapet wall
• In the top there is a bar
• The wall of the heaven is made of gold
• So it is referred as gold bar
• She is resting herself in the gold bar
Eyes deeper than the depth
• Deep eyes refer to sorrow
• The intensity of the sorrow is presented in these lines
• The figure of speech employed is hyperbole
Of waters stilled at even
• Her eyes deeper than the depth of still water
• In the both eyes water is stilled [staying in the eyes]
She had three lilies in her hand
• Three lilies refers to purity and nearness to God
• Lily signifying purity
• The number three refers to triune [trinity: God as three persons- Father, Son and Holy Spirit]
And the stars in her hair were seven
• Refers to seven stars of heaven• In Greek mythology Atlas and Pleione had
seven daughters• Those young girls were transformed into
heavenly stars after their death• They are: Alcyone,Celaeno, Electra,
Maia,Merope,Sterope and Taygette• They attended the Goddess of virginity,
Artemis
More Details
• Why did she leaned out?
• It suggests that her mind is not in heaven
• Melancholy is suggested through the expression of deep eyes
• Is she really blessed?
• There is a conflict between joy and sorrow
More Details
• The expression leaned out is more vital to the first stanza. It sets the texture of the poem
• It is more suggestive
• She is not in heaven mentally
Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem, No wrought flowers did adorn, But a white rose of Mary's gift, For service meetly worn; Her hair that lay along her back Was yellow like ripe corn.