{"product_id":"2940170726158","title":"The Poetry of Dante Gabriel Rossetti","description":"\u003cp\u003eDante Gabriel Rossetti was born on May 12th 1828 in London, England.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs a youth he was \"self-possessed, articulate, passionate and charismatic\" but also \"ardent, poetic and feckless\". Like his siblings, including famed poet Christina Georgina Rossetti, he most wished to be a poet but had a keen eye as a painter, having shown a great interest in Medieval Italian art. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTogether with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais they developed and founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It¿s mission; to reform English art and return to the detail, intense colours, and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian and Flemish art. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe brotherhood's magazine, The Germ, was first published in 1850 with Rossetti contributing a poem, \"The Blessed Damozel\", and a story about a fictional Italian artist inspired by a vision of a woman who bids him combine the human and the divine in his art.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRossetti first met his future wife, Elizabeth Siddal, a model, in 1849 who was later sitting for him and involved in an intense relationship.  By 1852 they withdrew from society; totally absorbed in each other. The lovers nicknamed each other; \"Guggums\" and \"Dove\".  \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1861, Rossetti, together with William Morris, became a founding partner in the decorative arts firm, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner amp; Co. Rossetti contributed designs for stained glass and other decorative objects.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMeanwhile his marriage to Lizzie was troubled.  The terrible hurt of Rossetti¿s affairs with other women had caused her stress leading to depression and other illnesses. She now began to take, and become addicted to, laudanum. In 1861, Lizzie became pregnant but the resultant birth was a stillborn daughter.  Lizzie¿s post-partum depression was followed by an overdose of laudanum the following year.  Rossetti was devastated and, at her funeral in Highgate Cemetery, he buried the bulk of his unpublished poems with her body.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePoetry and painting are closely entwined in Rossetti's work. He frequently wrote sonnets to accompany his pictures, while also creating art to illustrate poems such as \"Goblin Market\" by his sister.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHis personal life was closely woven into his work, especially his relationships with his models and muses.  William Morris¿s wife, Jane, regularly sat for him during the next few years, and it was said she \"consumed and obsessed him in paint, poetry, and life\". \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDuring these years, Rossetti was prevailed upon by friends to exhume his poems from his wife's grave which he eventually did, collating and publishing them in 1870.  Their eroticism and sensuality caused much offence. One, \"Nuptial Sleep\", described a couple falling asleep after sex. It was part of the sonnet sequence The House of Life, a complex series tracing the physical and spiritual development of an intimate relationship.  Rossetti described the sonnet form as a \"moment's monument\" and these were his crowning literary achievement. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eToward the end of his life, he sank into a morbid state, shadowed by addiction to chloral hydrate and increasing mental instability. He spent his last years as a recluse at Cheyne Walk and died on Easter Sunday, April 9th, 1882.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e This volume comes to you from Portable Poetry, a specialized imprint from Deadtree Publishing.  Our range is large and growing and covers single poets, themes, and many compilations.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"COUNTERPOI","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47150779957488,"sku":"2940170726158","price":6.49,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940170726158_p0.jpg?v=1763715449","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940170726158","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}