Rossetti, Dante Gabriel and Christina Georgina

(1828-1894)

   • Gabriel, the brother, 1828-1882

   He was born in London, where his Italian father was a teacher of Italian, then professor of Italian in King's College, London. He studied art at the Royal Academy, and in 1848, with Holman Hunt and Sir John Everest Millais, founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, whose members found their inspiration in the religious and scrupulously detailed art of Raphael (1483-1520). Rossetti's reputation as a poet overtook that of the painter and two of his bestknown poems, "The Portrait" and "The Blessed Damozel" were written in 1842. The Early Italian Poets (1861) contains some of his own translations and works from other Italian writers. He married in 1860 Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal (see entry) the model for many of his paintings; she died two years later from an overdose of laudanum. In 1881 he published Ballads and Sonnets, which contained "Rose Mary," "The White Ship," "The King's Tragedy," and the sonnet sequence "The House of Life." Some of his other poems: "A Young Fir-Wood," "Antwerp and Bruges," "At the Sun-Rise in 1848," "La Vita Nuova," "The Bride's Prelude," "Youth's SpringTribute."

   • Christina Georgina, the sister, 1830-1894

   Born in London, her first recorded verses were printed in 1842 at her grandfather's private press, with a second volume in 1847. Her early poetry was published under the pseudonym Ellen Alleyne in the Germ, a pre-Raphaelite journal, although she was not a member of the movement. A high Anglican and profoundly religious woman, she wrote several religious tracts. An invalid for many years, she died in London of cancer and was buried at Highgate Cemetery, North London. The majority of her poems were religious in nature and some have become well-known hymns. She also wrote ballads, sonnets, love lyrics, and nonsense rhymes as well as children's stories. Some of her publications: Goblin Market and Other Poems, 1862. Sing-Song, A Nursery Rhyme Book, 1872. The Prince's Progress, 1881. A Pageant and Other Poems, 1881. Some of her poems: "In the Bleak Mid-Winter," "Later Life: A Double Sonnet of Sonnets," "Love Came Down At Christmas," "None Other Lamb," "The Convent Threshold," "The Will of the Lord Be Done," "Within the Veil," "Yea, I Have a Goodly Heritage," "Yet a Little While," "Zara."

   Sources: A Child's Treasury of Verse. Eleanor Doan, ed. Zondervan Corporation, 1977. Bread and Roses: An Anthology of Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Poetry by Women Writers. Diana Scott, ed. Virago Press, 1982. Collected Writings of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Jan Marsh, ed. New Amsterdam Books, 2000. Dictionary of National Biography. Electronic Edition 1.1. Oxford University Press, 1997. Encyclopædia Britannica Ultimate Reference Suite DVD, 2006. English Poetry: Author Search. ChadwyckHealey Ltd., 1995 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu:8080/search/epoetry/author.html). Golden Numbers. Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith, eds. Doubleday, Doran, 1902. Microsoft Encarta 2006 (DVD). Microsoft Corporation, 2006. The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.org.uk). Poemhunter (www.poemhunter.com). Poetry, Jill P. Baumgaertner, ed. Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1990. The Columbia Granger's Index to Poetry. 11th ed. The Columbia Granger's World of Poetry, Columbia University Press, 2005 (http://www.columbiagrangers.org). The Complete Poems of Christina Rossetti. R.W. Crump, ed. Louisiana State University Press. Vol. 1, 1979; Vol. 2, 1986; Vol. 3, 1990. The Cyber Hymnal (http://www.cyberhymnal.org/index.htm). The Early Italian Poets. Sally Purcell, ed. Anvil Press Poetry, 1981. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 6th edition. Margaret Drabble, ed. Oxford University Press, 2000. Victorian Verse. George MacBeth, ed. Penguin Books, 1986.