Collected Writings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti

by Jan Marsh

Leading light of the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Dante Gariel Rossetti (1828-1882) is best known today for his vivid, sensuous paintings. But he was drawn to both poetry and painting from boyhood and after early successes aimed to pursue a dual career. Strongly drawn to supernatural themes, his poems grapple with the mysteries of human passion and the loss of religious certainty. Varied in form as well as theme, his verse ranges from romantic ballads of betrayal and revenge through intricately wrought love sonnets to boldly erotic odes. There are simple lyrics, dramatic monologues, historical narratives, and several poems written for pictures. His poetry influenced the writing of Swinburne, Wilde, and other writers of the 1890s. This edition brings together everything published in his lifetime, including the early pre-Raphaelite tale "Hand and Soul" and his critical defense of his "fleshly" poems. Collected Writings of Dante Rossetti allows the reader to enter the world of pre-Raphaelite poetry, to study the interaction between verbal and visual art, and to assess Rossetti's place in the canon of Victorian literature.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Art

416 pages, Hardcover

Published November 16, 1999