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Rossetti's Reading and his Critical Opinions
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 December 2020
Extract
The purpose of this article is to indicate the character and approximately the scope of Rossetti's reading, and to examine the opinions he expressed on the books he read. Many volumes must, of course, have passed through his hands of which he left no record, but enough allusions remain (and I omit mention of a few relating to unimportant works of the nineteenth century) to enable us to reconstruct the literary interests of Rossetti and define his tendencies as a critic.
Material for the study is drawn in part from Rossetti's works, though he wrote few formal criticisms. Comments on his reading occur also in various biographies of the poet, particularly in that by his brother, William Michael Rossetti. Finally, the greatest source of our knowledge is his own letters. A large number of these have been preserved in volumes edited under different titles by his brother, but there are many others in various memoirs, especially in Hall Caine's Recollections of Rossetti.
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- Copyright © Modern Language Association of America, 1927
References
1 T. Hall Caine, Recollections of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (Lond., 1882), p. 234.
2 Dante Gabriel Rossetti, His Family-Letters with a Memoir by William Michael Rossetti (London, 1895, two volumes), I, 102-3.
3 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 57.
4 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 60.
5 The Golden Water of the Princess Parisadé. My information about Rossetti's paintings and drawings is derived from W. M. Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti as Designer and Writer (London, 1889), and H. C. Marillier, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, An Illustrated Memorial of his Art and Life (London, 1904).
6 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 71-2.
7 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 81. Rossetti executed pictures of Circe and of Helen of Troy and wrote two sonnets on Cassandra, the poem Troy Town, and a sonnet Death's Songsters with references to two adventures of Ulysses.
8 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 71-2; II, 8; respectively.
9 The Works Of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edited with Preface and Notes by William M. Rossetti (London, 1911, one volume), p. 605-6.
10 Autobiographical Notes of the Life of William Bell Scott. Edited by W. Minto. (London, 1892, two volumes), I, 294.
11 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 58.
12 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 63-4, and 102.
13 Marillier's list of Rossetti's paintings may be consulted. There are more than a dozen, the two most famous being Beata Beatrix and Dante's Dream.
14 Works, pp. 296-7.
15 Works, p. 282. Brief critical remarks, appreciative but moderate in their claims, may be found in the prose contained in Dante and his Circle. The notes show familiarity with such works as Dino Compagni's Chronicle, Villani's History of Florence, and the Pecorone of Giovanni Fiorentino.
16 Works, p. 284.
17 Caine, Recollections, p. 232.
18 Works, p. 305.
19 Rossetti Papers 1862 to 1870 Compiled by William Michael Rossetti (London, 1903), p. 527.
20 Works, p. 413. W. M. Rossetti in a note (Works, p. 676) says that the second Fiammetta sonnet “bears a certain relation” to Rossetti's sonnet and, even more, to the painting.
21 Works, pp. 301, 305.
22 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 83.
23 Works, p. 537.
24 Family-Letters and Memoir, II, 275.
25 W. B. Scott's Autobiography, II, 177.
29 Works, p. 539.
27 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 82.
28 Caine, Recollections, p. 234.
29 Caine, Recollections, pp. 180-1.
30 Family-Letters and Memoir, II, 28 and 21, respectively.
31 Some Reminiscences of William Michael Rossetti (New York, 1906, two volumes), I, 57, and Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 82.
32 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 83, 100.
33 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 98; II, 25, 28, 28, 32, respectively.
34 Family-Letters and Memoir, II, 273. Rossetti has a little epitaph of a sardonic nature on Flaubert, Dis Manibus.
35 Recollections, p. 234.
36 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 419-20.
37 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 87.
38 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 104.
39 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 103. He made paintings or drawings of Gretchen trying on the jewels, Gretchen and Mephistopheles in the chapel, and Gretchen and Faust in prison.
40 W. B. Scott's Autobiography, I, 294.
41 Caine, Recollections, p. 234.
42 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 101.
43 Letters of Dante Gabriel Rossetti to William Allingham 1854-1870. Edited by George Birkbeck Hill (New York, no date), p. 96-7. One of Rossetti's drawings—The Queen's Page—is from Heine.
44 Family-Letters and Memoir, II, 241.
45 Caine, Recollections, p. 234.
46 Works, p. 94.
47 Works, p. 621.
48 Autobiography, II, 116.
49 Joseph Knight, Life of Dante Gabriel Rossetti (London, 1887), p. 28.
50 Family-Letters and Memoir, II, 51, and Works, p. 649.
51 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 196. Some seven paintings and drawings owe their subjects to the Morte d'Arthur.
52 Caine, Recollections, p. 293.
53 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 58.
54 Praeraphaelite Diaries and Letters Edited by William Michael Rossetti (London, 1900), p. 7.
55 Caine, Recollections, pp. 141-2.
56 Orlando and Adam in the Forest (boyish), Hamlet and Ophelia, The Madness of Ophelia, Mariana, Desdemona's Death Song, Juliet and the Old Nurse, The Death of Lady Macbeth.
57 Caine, Recollections, p. 294.
58 J. Knight, Life of Rossetti, p. 63. Caine records that he had copies of some Elizabethan dramatists other than Shakespeare in his library. (Recollections, p. 233.)
59 Works, p. 595.
60 Came, Recollections, p. 249.
61 Caine, Recollections, p. 237.
62 Caine, Recollections, p. 195, and Family-Letters and Memoir, II, 356.
63 Caine, Recollections, p. 259. Rossetti also approved of Herbert (Letters to Allingham, p. 218).
64 Works, p. 627.
65 Ruskin: Rossetti: Preraphaelitism Papers 1854 to 1862, Edited by William Michael Rossetti (London, 1899), p. 205.
66 Caine, Recollections, pp. 194-5.
67 Works, p. 637. The first part of this is versified on page 239.
68 Caine, Recollections, p. 191.
69 Works, pp. 595, 596, 598, 631. Rossetti also read a fair number of works about Blake.
70 Caine, Recollections, pp. 184-5. W. M. Rossetti in Works, pp. 670-1, agrees about these opinions of his brother.
71 Caine, Recollections, pp. 194-5. In childhood, he also read Gay's Fables (Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 60).
72 Works, p. 627. In 1843, Rossetti made two drawings of subjects drawn from Goldsmith's Deserted Village.
73 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 60; II, 6.
74 T. Hall Caine, My Story (New York, 1909), pp. 154-5,172-3. Part of this volume deals with. Rossetti and is a condensation of Caine's Recollections. A note by W. M. Rossetti (Works, p. 680) seems to indicate that the poet admired Tristram Shandy earlier.
75 Rossetti Papers, p. 369; Family-Letters and Memoir, II, 336. In childhood, he also began the Castle of Otranto (ibid., II, 6).
76 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 60.
77 My Story, pp. 139-40.
78 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 81, 100; II, 8. Other references to Byron are II, 9, 18, 21. Rossetti sketched one subject from The Siege of Corinth. A list of his favorite poets, according to time, is found in Some Reminiscences of W. M. Rossetti, I, 57.
79 Caine, My Story, p. 141.
80 Works, p. 671.
81 Rossetti Papers, pp. 498-9.
82 Caine, Recollections, p. 170.
83 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 100.
84 Works, p. 671.
85 Works, p. 638.
86 Caine, Recollections, pp. 170, 167, 180, respectively. Rossetti made a water color of La Belle Dame Sans Merci.
87 Works, p. 671. W. M. Rossetti is the authority. Rossetti made a drawing of Coleridge's Genevieve.
88 Caine, Recollections, p. 155.
89 Caine, Recollections, p. 147; Works, p. 607; Caine, p. 164; respectively.
90 Caine, Recollections, p. 150.
91 Caine, Recollections, p. 241.
92 Caine, Recollections, p. 148. The remark about the sawdust poem is from the Letters to Allingham, p. 233. In Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 419, also, Rossetti shows himself hostile to what he considers trivial subjects. On the other hand, in Works, pp. 630-3, he reviews certain Wordsworthian poems by his friend Hake favorably. Perhaps for Rossetti friendship covered a multitude of sins.
93 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 59-60. In boyhood, he sketched the death of Marmion.
94 W. B. Scott's Autobiography, II, 162-3.
95 Family-Letters and Memoir, II, 241.
96 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 69; II, 41; Letters to Allingham, p. 102; respectively.
97 Works, p. 593, and Caine, Recollections, pp. 167-9. He was instrumental in having the work republished in later years.
98 Caine, Recollections, p. 108.
99 Letters to Allingham, p. 116; Caine, Recollections, p. 275 (for Hogg and Houghton); Family-Letters and Memoir, II, 356 (Cottle), 382 (Hogg), 39 (Houghton).
100 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 61, 82, 101.
101 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 102.
102 Letters to Allingham, p. 28.
103 Letters to Allingham, pp. 156-7.
104 Anne Gilchrist Her Life and Writings Edited by H. H. Gilchrist (London, 1887), p. 175. Also Letters to Allingham, p. 284.
105 W. B. Scott's Autobiography, II, 142, 138, respectively.
106 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 308. Rossetti drew from Browning subjects for paintings and drawings: Hist, said Kate the Queen (Pippa Passes), Taurello's First Sight of Fortune (Sordella), and The Laboratory.
107 Letters to Allingham, pp. 196 (on the authority of W. M. Rossetti), 189.
108 Some Reminiscences of W. M. Rossetti, I, 57.
109 Praeraphaelite Diaries, p. 236.
110 The Century Guild Hobby Horse, IV, 89 (1889).
111 Caine, Recollections, p. 241.
112 Rossetti Papers, pp. 93-4, 98-100 (letters); Works, p. 636 (jotting from note book).
113 Letters to Allingham, p. 192.
114 Rossetti Papers, p. 512.
115 Caine, Recollections, p. 197.
116 Rossetti Papers, p. 504.
117 John Skelton, The Table-Talk of Shirley (Edinburgh and London, 1895), pp. 85, 80, respectively.
118 Caine, Recollections, pp. 179, 180, respectively.
119 W. M. Rossetti, Dante Gabriel Rossetti as Designer and Writer (London, 1889), p. 152.
120 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 89.
121 Letters to Allingham, pp. 99-100. See also pp. 236-7.
122 Letters to Allingham, pp. 172, 245.
123 Letters to Allingham, p. 141.
124 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 420.
125 Letters to Allingham, pp. 267, 191, respectively.
126 Caine, Recollections, pp. 241, 251.
127 W. B. Scott's Autobiography, II, 209-10. See also I, 143-4.
128 Rossetti Papers, p. 470.
129 Ford M. Hueffer, Ford Madox Brown A Record of his Life and Work (London, 1896), p. 269.
130 Works, pp. 633-4.
131 William Sharp, a Memoir by his Wife Elizabeth A. Sharp (London, 1910)' p. 44; Caine, Recollections, p. 197; Caine, My Story, pp. 135, 159.
132 Family-Letters and Memoir, pp. 81-2, 101.
133 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 419, 101, respectively.
134 Works, p. 636.
135 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 419-20; Caine, Recollections, p. 282.
136 Letters to Allingham, p. 58.
137 Letters to Allingham, p. 74.
138 Family-Letters and Memoir, II, 15; I, 101; respectively.
139 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 82; II, 21.
140 Letters to Allingham, p. 248.
141 Family-Letters and Memoir, II, 139.
142 J. H. Ingram, Oliver Madox Brown (London, 1883), pp. 83-4. F. M. Hueffer, F. M. Brown, p. 285.
143 Caine, My Story, p. 176; Letters to Allingham, p. 86.
144 Caine, My Story, p. 178; Letters to Allingham, p. 228; Rossetti Papers, pp. 141 ff.
145 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 44; II, 108 and 327; Caine, Recollections, p. 195; respectively.
146 W. B. Scott's Autobiography, II, 187; Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 256, 308-9; respectively.
147 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 107; Caine, Recollections, p. 284. In 1848, he drew sketches from the Raven and Ulalume. He also read Ingram's Life of Poe (Family-Letters and Memoir, II, 363).
148 Praeraphaelite Diaries, p. 231.
149 Ruskin: Rossetti: Preraphaelitism, pp. 204-5 (both Emerson and Whittier).
150 Letters to Allingham, p. 181. Benson in his biography of Rossetti says that Wishi-washi is Hiawatha.
151 Caine, My Story, p. 177.
152 Works, p. 303, note.
153 Works, p. 271. He also parodies the well known verses “Woodman, spare that tree” in W. B. Scott's Autobiography, II, 36.
154 Caine, Recollections, p. 191.
155 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 414.
156 Works, p. 620.
157 Caine, Recollections, p. 249.
158 Caine, My Story, p. 118.
159 Letters to Allingham, p. 256.
160 Family-Letters and Memoir, I, 420-1.
161 Works, p. 671.
162 In view of Rossetti's ability as a writer of sonnets and translations, it is interesting to note his opinions on these forms. In the sonnet, “this condensed and emphatic form,” the first essential is “special originality and even newness. . . . of thought and picture in individual lines”; otherwise it has no excuse for its shortness and may seem merely an excerpt from a longer poem. (Caine, Recollections, 110-1) As regards the rhyme scheme, a sonneteer should be able to conform to the strictest rules, but may often allow himself liberties. “The English sonnet too much tampered with becomes a sort of bastard madrigal. Too much, invariably restricted it degenerates into a Shibboleth.” (Caine, Recollections, 248) The purpose of translation is “to endow a fresh nation. . . . with one more possession of beauty,” and the one commandment is “that a good poem shall not be turned into a bad one.” Strict literality is of less importance, but the translator must carry over as much of the beauty of the original as possible and add none of his own. (Works, p. 283.)