‘THE PASSOVER IN THE HOLY
FAMILY’
A 1856 PAINTING AND POEM BY DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI
Poesía Inglesa Siglos XIX-XX
Curso 2005-2006
Profesor: Vicente Forés
Alumno: Alfredo Carbonell
Rico
‘The
Passover in the Holy Family’ by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
(1856)
1 Here meet together the
prefiguring day
2 And day prefigured. 'Eating, thou shalt
stand,
3 Feet shod, loins girt, thy road-staff in thine hand,
4 With blood-stained door and lintel,'--did God say
5 By Moses' mouth in ages passed away.
6 And now, where this poor household doth comprise
7 At Paschal-Feast two kindred families,--
8 Lo! the slain lamb confronts the Lamb to slay.
9 The pyre is piled.
What agony's crown attained,
10 What shadow of death the Boy's fair brow
subdues
11Who holds that blood wherewith the porch is stained
12 By Zachary the priest? John binds the shoes
13 He deemed himself not worthy to unloose;
14And Mary culls the bitter herbs ordained.
References
(4) Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. The Poetical
Works. 2vols. [Ed. William Michael Rossetti.]
Boston
(5)Dante
Gabriel Rossetti. The Passover in the Holy Family: Gathering Bitter Herbs. 1855-56. Watercolor. 16 x
Bibliography
(1) Textualization
and Typology in "The Passover in the Holy Family" http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/dgr/drawings/kashtan4.html
Editor George P. Landow
(2) The Dual Sacrifices in Rossetti's Layered Passover Scene
http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/dgr/drawings/johnston4.html
Editor George P. Landow
(3) Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Passover in the Holy Family
http://www.victorianweb.org/painting/whh/replete/passover.html
Editor George P. Landow
All the research was made on
‘The Passover
in the Holy Family’ is the title for both a poem and a painting composed
by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In this essay we are going
to analyse the direct relation between both artistic compositions, for it is
obvious that the two creations share the same topic. Therefore, we will try to
show how the painting reflects visually what the poem is saying through words
but also how the poem expresses through words what the painting is saying with
images.
The title of the poem is the same as the one for the
painting, ‘The Passover in the Holy
Family’ (4) (5). The title is definitively telling us what both the poem and
the painting are going to deal with, without any literary device to decorate
it. It is a very simple style like the one used to write the Bible or the one
used for ages to represent scenes from the Holy Book. We can also easily guess
that the two artistic creations are going to make reference to the same main
topic.
Formally speaking, the poem (4) is a ‘sonnet’ (3)
divided into two stanzas with eight and six verses each. The rhyme pattern
followed in the poem is ABBAACCA for the first stanza and ABABBA for the second
one. We can easily appreciate here that the author is following a very
classical pattern to express this episode from the Bible. I consider this fact
very proper indeed, for Rossetti is using an old
poetic form to tell an episode as old as the one from the Holy Book.
When we take a look at the painting, we get the same
effect. For it is a very old episode from a very old book, the painter uses
some techniques to reflect the age of all these events. Therefore, we
can appreciate that ‘Rossetti uses warm colours, and
the green and blue in the painting verge on bright, but the visible lines and
imprecise details create a worn effect, making the painting seem aged’ (2)
The language of the poem is also very simple and clear.
As long as it is reflecting a very old event, it uses a very easy, straightforward
vocabulary, without any kind of complexity. This is the way that the ancient
literature was written so this was the only way that the author could reproduce
the event he is talking about. In a closer reading, we can find that the author
is constantly referring to the semantic field of a Christian ceremony.
Therefore, we can find the terms ‘Blood’ (lines 4, 11), ‘God’ (line 4), ‘Moses’
(line 5), ‘Lamb’ (line 8), ‘Zachary’ and ‘John’ (line 12) or ‘Mary’ and ‘Bitter
Herbs’ (line 14)
In the same way, we can find a very simple painting
(5), where although we can find some symbols, it is not hard at all to
distinguish what is painted there. ‘The watercolor
shows the Holy Family preparing for the Passover holiday: Mary gathers bitter
herbs, one of the traditional components of the Seder plate, while Zachary
paints the door and lintel of the house with lamb's blood as prescribed by the
Book of Exodus. Jesus holds the bowl of lamb's blood as John the Baptist ties Jesus's shoes.’ (1) ‘The young Christ occupies the center of the composition, and around him the other figures
revolve. He stands holding on to a wooden beam with one hand and the bowl of
lamb's blood in the other. His gaze leads to Mary, whose hand reaches down to
gather the bitter herbs at his feet. On the ground, wearing a worn brown cloth,
John kneels before Christ, binding his shoes. Standing behind John, Zacharius reaches directly above Christ's head to stain the
porch with blood.’ (2)
The grammatical person that
the author used to write the poem is the third one, as long as he is telling
the story that happened to other people. We can find an evidence in line 13 in
the use of the pronoun ‘He’, as well as in the tone of the poem. This literary
device is used following the style of the Bible, for the poem is dealing with one of its passages.
For me, this component has a straightforward relation with the painting. As
readers of a poem, we are told a story through words, so we are the listeners,
the passive component in the communication and as viewers of a painting, we
play the same role in the communication, we just see what the painter wants us
to see.
According to the language used
in the poem, we can find very strong images evoking what the title just announced. ‘In light of Rossetti's
poem accompanying the watercolor, the scene carries
the weight of the past and foretells Christ's crucifixion and resurrection.’
(2) ‘All these actions are invested with typological symbolism. For example,
the lamb's blood symbolizes the blood that Christ, the Lamb (with capital L),
will later shed on the cross, whereas the bitter herbs
perhaps echo the bitterness of Christ's sacrifice.’ (1) ‘The poem explicitly
spells out the symbolism of the painting; for example, it states what John is
doing and identifies the typological meaning of this action (1), and ‘The scene stands between the prefiguring
day -- Mose's leading the Jews out of Egypt -- and
the day prefigured -- Christ, through his death and resurrection, leading human
beings from sin to salvation. The Holy family pictured fulfills
God's mandates for Passover voiced by Moses. Jesus holds the bowl, providing
for Zacharius the blood of the sacrificed lamb that
will keep the Angel of Death away, but it also symbolizes that through his
Crucifixion, Jesus sacrifices his blood to save mankind from death. The blood
he holds and the blood above him foreshadows his Crucifixion and the redemption
that comes from it. Below him, the bitter herbs required for the ritual serve
as the reminder of the suffering of the Jews.’ (2)
Personally, I have really
enjoyed both the reading and the analysing of the poem, for it shows a very
simple and clear vocabulary and structure and a straightforward meaning. I also
think that the poet perfectly transmits the event to the readers by all the
devices explained before. But to be honest, I must admit that I am completely
lost when dealing both with painting analysis and religion, so I saw myself
forced to use some references for I felt that I was missing too many details in
my analysis.