Qass. 
 Book. 
 
 COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL ^ 
 AS FIRST WRITTEN BY DANTE 
 GABRIEL ROSSETTI AND PUB- 
 LISHED IN "THE GERM" IN 
 J850 ^ jt REPRINTED FOR M. F. 
 MANSFIELD, TWENTY -TWO E. 
 SIXTEENTH STREET, NEW YORK 
 MDCCCXCVIIL..** j^ ^ J- J- J- J^ Jk 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL 
 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 r APR y ^^^ I 
 
 FIRST WRITTEN BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI 
 rO HRST PUBLISHED IN "THE GERM" IN J850 
 
 33. 
 
 c/ 
 
 1st COPY, 
 
 REPRINTED FOR M. F. MANSHELD, TWENTY -TWO 
 EAST SIXTEENTH STREET, NEW YORK, MDCCCXCVm. 
 
 Ojv^ 
 
 a.. 
 
Copyright 
 
 1898 
 
 Blanche McManus 
 
 
 I « « 
 
FOREWORD. 
 
 It was in J848 that the little band of Pre-Raphael- 
 ites of whom Dante Gabriel Rossetti was primus 
 inter pares^ first formed themselves into a constitu- 
 ent body, with avowed aims, and it was in the 
 same year that ^^ The Blessed Damozel ^^ sprang to 
 birth. 
 
 Then came, in 1850, the short-lived organ of that 
 enthusiastic few. The Germ, which lasted throtigh 
 four numbers, and in this transitory expression of 
 Pre-Raphaelite aims, creed and conscience the 
 *^ Damozel,^^ with several other of Rossetti^s poems, 
 first held converse with the world. 
 
 The Germ was really ** an official manifesto 
 or apologia of Pre-Raphaelitism : ^^ all that it had to 
 preach was the noble doctrine of the sacredness, 
 the saving grace, of conscience in art. 
 
 There are those who deem the later and extended 
 form of '^ The Blessed Damozer^ superior to the 
 original inspiration. iBut it has been rightly said 
 that in the proportion that Rossetti rewrote the poem 
 he marred that power which one feels to be inher- 
 ent in the utter simplicity of the original, a power 
 which Blake says is the page of Inspiration, the 
 ability to see imaginary objects and dramatic ac- 
 tions, — physically as well as mentally, — and flash- 
 ing them upon the imaginations (even upon the 
 corporal senses) of others. 
 
 It is from complete accord with this judgment as 
 regards the poet and the poem that the following 
 reprint of ^' The Blessed Damozel ^^ in its original 
 form as it appeared in J 850 in The Germ (from 
 which it is taken) is offered to the public 
 
%** 
 
SONNET TO D. G. R. 
 
 Master^ whose very names have god-like power 
 Of song and light divine, being his who went 
 Unscathed through blearing fire omnipotent, 
 Singing for men ; and his who, hour by hour, 
 Stands in the imminent and splendid shower 
 Of God^s effulgence ; and being lastly blent 
 With the warm light and odour effluent 
 Of your own rhymes, our latest, loveliest dower. 
 Not in our own land could my weakness mock 
 Your strength with homages of my poor May-day; 
 The applause of circling poets scared my song* 
 But here, where twenty thousand thunders shock 
 The violent air for leagues of dim sea-way. 
 Surely my heart may speak, nor do you wrong I 
 
 EDMUND GOSSE* 
 
 Outside Bergen Harbour, August, J87K 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
 
 The blessed Damozel leaned out 
 From the gold bar of Heaven : 
 
 Her blue grave eyes were deeper 
 much 
 Than a deep water, even* 
 
 She had three lilies in her hand, 
 And the stars in her hair were 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEU 
 
 Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem, 
 No wrought flowers did adorn, 
 
 But a white rose of Mary^s gift 
 On the neck meetly worn ; 
 
 And her hair, lying down her back, . 
 Was yellow like ripe corn. 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEU 
 
 Herseemed she scarce had been a 
 day 
 
 One of God^s choristers ; 
 The wonder was not yet quite gone 
 
 From that still look of her^s ; 
 Albeit to them she left, her day 
 
 Had counted as ten years* 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
 IV. 
 
 (To one it is ten years of years: ^ 
 
 ♦ ♦ ♦ Yet now, here in this place, 
 Surely she leaned o^er me, — her 
 hair 
 
 Fell all about my face 
 
 Nothing: the Autumn — fall of 
 leaves. 
 The whole year sets apace.) 
 
 1^ 
 
 1^ 
 
 -^ 
 
 T^ ^ ^ 1^ 
 
 ^. 
 
 :B-MeN|> 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL* 
 V- 
 
 It was the terrace of God^s house 
 That she was standing on, 
 
 By God built over the sheer depth 
 In which Space is begun; 
 
 So high that looking downward 
 thence, 
 She could scarce see the sun* 
 
^m 
 
 J 
 
 THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
 VL 
 
 It lies from Heaven across the flood 
 
 Of ether, as a bridge* 
 Beneath, the tides of day and night 
 
 With flame and blackness ridge 
 The void, as low as where this 
 earth 
 
 Spins like a fretful midge* 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL^ 
 VIL 
 
 But in those tracts, with her, it was 
 
 The peace of utter light 
 And silence^ For no breeze may stir 
 
 Along the steady flight 
 Of seraphim ; no echo there. 
 
 Beyond all depth or height* 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL^ 
 VIIL 
 
 Heard hardly, some of her new 
 friends, 
 Playing at holy games, 
 Spake,gentIe-mouthed, among them- 
 selves, 
 Their virginal chaste names ; 
 And the souls, mounting up to God, 
 Went by her like thin flames* 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
 IX. 
 
 ^ And still she bowed herself and 
 stooped 
 Into the vast waste calm ; 
 Till her bosom^s pressure must have 
 made 
 The bar she leaned on warm, 
 And the lilies lay as if asleep 
 Along her bended arm. 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL^ 
 
 From the fixt lull of Heaven, she 
 saw 
 Time, like a pulse, shake fierce 
 Through all the worlds^ Her gaze^ 
 still strove, 
 In that steep gulph, to pierce 
 The swarm: and then she spake, 
 as when 
 The stars sang in their spheres* 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
 XL 
 
 I wish that he were come to me. 
 For he will come/^ she said* 
 Have I not prayed in solemn 
 
 Heaven ? 
 On earth, has he not prayed ? 
 Are not two prayers a perfect 
 strength ? 
 And shall I feel afraid^ 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
 XIL 
 
 ^^When round his head the aureoU 
 clings^ 
 And he is clothed in white^ 
 FII take his hand, and go with him 
 
 To the deep wells of light, 
 And we will step down as to z 
 stream 
 And bathe there in God^s sight* 
 
 1 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
 
 ^*We two will stand beside that 
 shrine, 
 Occult, withheld, untrod, 
 Whose lamps tremble continually 
 
 With prayer sent up to God ; 
 And where each need, revealed, ex- 
 pects 
 Its patient period* 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
 
 I 
 *^ We two will lie i^ the shadow of 
 
 That living mystic tree 
 Within whose secret growth the 
 Dove 
 Sometimes is felt to be. 
 While every leaf that His plumes 
 touch 
 Saith His name audibly* 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
 
 ^ And I myself will teach to him — 
 
 I myself^ lying so, — 
 The songs I sing here ; which his 
 mouth 
 Shall pause in, hushed and slow. 
 Finding some knowledge at each 
 pause 
 And some new thing to know/^ 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
 XVL 
 
 (Alas ! to her wise simple mind 
 These things were all but known 
 
 Before: they trembled on her 
 sense^ — 
 Her voice had caught their tone* 
 
 Alas for lonely Heaven ! Alas 
 For life wrung out alone ! 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
 XVIL 
 
 Alas, and though the end were 
 reached? ♦ ♦ • 
 Was thy part understood 
 Or borne in trust? And for her 
 sake 
 Shall this too be found good ? — 
 
 May the close lips that knew not 
 prayer 
 
 Praise ever, though they would ?) 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL^ 
 XVIIL 
 
 ^'We two/^ she said, ''will seek 
 
 the groves 
 
 Where the lady Mary is, 
 
 With her five handmaidens, whose 
 
 names 
 
 Are five sweet symphonies : — 
 
 Cecily, Gertrude, Magdalen, 
 
 Margaret and Rosalys* 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL^ 
 XIX^ 
 
 Circle-wise sit they^ with bound 
 locks 
 
 And bosoms covered; 
 Into the fine cloth, white like flame, 
 
 Weaving the golden thread, 
 To fashion the birth-robes for them 
 
 Who are just born, being dead* 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL^ 
 
 ^ He shall fear haply, and be dumb! 
 
 Then I will lay my cheek 
 To his, and tell about our love. 
 
 Not once abashed or weak : 
 And the dear Mother will approve 
 
 My pride, and let me speak* 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL^ 
 XXI. 
 
 ^^ Herself shall bring us, hand in 
 hand, 
 To Him round whom all souls 
 Kneel — ^the unnumberM solemn 
 heads 
 Bowed with their aureoles : 
 And Angels, meeting us, shall sing 
 To their citherns and citoles. 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL. 
 XXIL 
 
 There will I ask of Christ the 
 
 Lord 
 
 Thus much for him and me:- 
 
 To have more blessing than on 
 
 earth 
 
 In nowise ; but to be 
 
 As then we were, — being as then 
 
 At peace^ Yea, verily^ 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEU 
 XXIIL 
 
 *^Yea, verily; when he is come 
 We will do thus and thus : 
 
 Till this my vigil seem quite strange 
 And almost fabulous ; 
 
 We two will live at once, one life ; 
 And peace shall be with us/^ 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL^ 
 XXIV* 
 
 She gazed, and listened, and them 
 said, 
 Less sad of speech than mild : 
 ^' All this is when he comes/^ She : 
 ceased : 
 The light thrilled past her, filled 1 
 With Angels, in strong level lapse* 
 Her eyes prayed, and she smiled* 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEU 
 XXV. 
 
 (I saw her smile.) But soon their 
 flight 
 Was vague ^mid the poised 
 spheres. 
 And then she cast her arms along 
 
 The golden barriers, 
 And laid her face between her 
 hands, 
 And wept. (I heard her tears.) 
 
THE BLESSED DAMOZEL^ 
 
 OF THIS EDITION 500 COPIES . . 7^. 
 . • . WERE PRINTED IN MARCH, mz. 
 
 PAGE DECORATIONS BY . 
 BLANCHE Mc 
 
 
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