Blessed Damozel. The Blessed Damozel is perhaps the best known poem by Dante Gabriel Rossetti as well as the title of some of his best known paintings.
The poem was first published in 1850 in the Pre-Raphaelite journal The Germ. Rossetti subsequently revised the poem twice and republished it in 1856, 1870 and 1873.
The poem was partially inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven, with its depiction of a lover grieving on Earth over the death of his loved one. Rossetti chose to represent the situation in reverse.
The poem describes the damozel observing her lover from heaven, and her unfulfilled yearning for their reunion in heaven. The poem also was the inspiration for Claude Debussy's La Damoiselle élue, a cantata for two soloists, female choir, and orchestra.
The first four stanzas of the poem are inscribed on the frame of the painting. The blessed damozel leaned out From the gold bar of Heaven; Her eyes were deeper than the depth Of waters stilled at even; She had three lilies in her hand, And the stars in her hair were seven. 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. Herseemed she scarce had been a day One of God's choristers; The wonder was not yet quite gone From that still look of hers; Albeit, to them she left, her day Had counted as ten years.
The poem was first published in 1850 in the Pre-Raphaelite journal The Germ. Rossetti subsequently revised the poem twice and republished it in 1856, 1870 and 1873.
The poem was partially inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem The Raven, with its depiction of a lover grieving on Earth over the death of his loved one. Rossetti chose to represent the situation in reverse.
The poem describes the damozel observing her lover from heaven, and her unfulfilled yearning for their reunion in heaven. The poem also was the inspiration for Claude Debussy's La Damoiselle élue, a cantata for two soloists, female choir, and orchestra.
The first four stanzas of the poem are inscribed on the frame of the painting. The blessed damozel leaned out From the gold bar of Heaven; Her eyes were deeper than the depth Of waters stilled at even; She had three lilies in her hand, And the stars in her hair were seven. 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. Herseemed she scarce had been a day One of God's choristers; The wonder was not yet quite gone From that still look of hers; Albeit, to them she left, her day Had counted as ten years.
Wikipedia ...