“A very pitiful
lady, very young”
A very pitiful lady, very young,
Exceeding rich in human sympathies,
Stood by,
what time I clamour'd upon Death;
And at the wild words wandering on my tongue
And at the piteous look within mine eyes
She was affrighted, that sobs choked her breath.
So by her weeping where I lay beneath,
Some other gentle ladies came to know
My state, and made her go:
Afterward, bending themselves over me, 10
One said, “Awaken thee!”
And one, “What thing thy sleep disquieteth?”
With that, my soul woke up from its eclipse,
The while my lady's name rose to my lips:
But utter'd in a voice so sob-broken,
So feeble with the agony of tears,
That I alone might hear it in my heart;
And though that look was on my visage then
Which he who is ashamed so plainly wears,
Love made that I through shame held not apart, 20
But gazed upon them. And my hue was such
That they look'd at each other and
thought of death;
Saying under their breath
Most tenderly, “Oh, let us comfort him:”
Then unto me: “What dream
Was thine, that it hath shaken thee so much?”
And when I was a little comforted,
“This, ladies, was the dream I dreamt,” I said.
“I was a-thinking how life fails with us
Suddenly after a little while; 30
When Love sobb'd in my heart, which is his
Whereby my spirit wax'd so dolorous
That in myself I said, with sick recoil:
‘Yea, to my lady too this Death must come.’
And therewithal such a bewilderment
Possess'd me, that I shut mine eyes for peace;
And in my brain did cease
Order of thought, and every healthful thing.
Afterwards, wandering
Amid a swarm of doubts that came and went, 40
Some certain women's faces hurried by,
And shriek'd to me, ‘Thou too shalt die, shalt die!’
“Then saw I many broken hinted sights
In the uncertain state I stepp'd into.
Meseem'd to be I know not in what place,
Where ladies through the street, like mournful
Ran with loose hair, and eyes that
frighten'd you
By their own terror, and a pale amaze:
The while, little by little, as I thought,
The sun ceased, and the stars began to gather, 50
And each wept at the other;
And birds dropp'd in mid-flight out of the sky;
And earth shook suddenly;
And I was 'ware of one, hoarse and tired out,
Who ask'd of me: ‘Hast thou not heard it said? . . .
Thy lady, she that was so fair, is dead.’
“Then lifting up mine eyes, as the tears came,
I saw the Angels, like a rain of manna,
In a long flight flying back Heavenward;
Having a little cloud in front of them, 60
After the which they went and said, ‘Hosanna!’
And if they had said more, you should have
Then Love spoke thus: ‘Now all shall be
Come and behold our lady where she lies.’
These idle phantasies
Then carried me to see my lady dead:
And standing at her head
Her ladies put a white veil over her;
And with her was such very humbleness
That she appeared to say, ‘I am at peace.’ 70
And I became so humble in my grief,
Seeing in her such deep humility,
That I said: ‘Death, I hold thee passing good
Henceforth, and a most gentle sweet relief,
Since my dear love has chosen to dwell with thee:
Pity, not hate, is thine, well understood.
Lo! I do so desire to see thy face
That I am like as one who nears the tomb;
My soul entreats thee, Come.’
Then I departed, having made my moan; 80
And when I was alone
I said, and cast my eyes to the High Place:
‘Blessed is he, fair soul, who meets thy glance!’
. . . . . . Just then you woke me, of your complai-
Source:http://www.rossettiarchive.org/docs/1-1861.rad.html#11d-1861
“A very pitiful lady very young” (1861), first edition
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Dante's Dream at the Time
of the Death of Beatrice
Dante Gabriel
Rossetti 1856
Source: http://www.rossettiarchive.org/img/s81.jpg
To begin with this essay, the painting
portraits a woman’s funeral because of the appearance of an angel kissing the
face of the dead woman, and the two women holding a white veil upon her,
showing us just the moment when they cover the dead body.
It
is important to say that the painting “Dante’s dream at the time of the death of
Beatrice”
illustrates an episode from Dante’s
Allighieri Vita Nuova in which he dreams that Beatrice dies and it is an
image of her funeral bier. (Alpha list,
Rossetti’s double works).
On
the one hand, the death woman in the picture is Beatrice, his idyllic love, so
I’m going to interpret the painting. In the picture an angel kissing Beatrice
appears but Dante is also in the picture looking at the kiss that he could
never give her. He is standing up with a sad face observing Cupid who is
holding an arrow. All this symbolises a frustrated falling in love because the
arrow hasn’t got a bow to be shot. This image represents a non-corresponded
love and Dante performs the action being a witness. Dante is looking towards
Beatrice’s eyes and is also looking at Paradise; the spiral staircases on the
right represent the
Paradise,
Hell and Purgatory are Dante’s three worlds in the Divine Comedy (
On
the other hand, there is a contrast between Dante and Cupid as regards to their
feet; while the angel appears barefooted, Dante does it in footwear. In the
Catholic religion being barefooted is a sign of having made a promise, a sign
of compromise and offering. In this case Dante is wearing shoes because he
seems not to be worried about the loss of his beloved lady but, in fact, his
face shows sadness and suffering.
To
conclude with the interpretation of the painting by Dante Gabriel Rossetti we
find an open roof just above Beatrice’s body; the rays of light focusing the
action symbolise the Divine Light that is going to take her soul away.
In
1855 Rossetti worked for Ellen Heaton and he gave the following description of
his own work “The figures (all foreground
ones) are, Dante, the dead Beatrice, two other ladies and an angelic figure
representing love, who is introduced as a person throughout the Vita Nuova; and
there is a good deal of accessory matter, the drawing being , unless I am much
mistaken, considerably more than double the size of Rachel & Leah, and it
is in every respect a much better drawing than that one, which I undertook
not at my own
suggestion , and the subject of which never interested me” (Production History,
Rossetti Archieve).
When analysing the poem “A very
pitiful lady, very young” by Dante Gabriel Rossetti we observe that the
poem’s first verse is the same as the title. Rossetti focuses his attention on
Beatrice because she has died so young, so beautiful… Rossetti writes in the
name of Dante who dreams Beatrice’s death.
The
poem is characterized by its structure of continuous repetitions during the
entire passage which initiates a process of clarification by allegorical
amplification. Dante’s poem executes a kind of reversal of the prose order of
events to expose their sacred meaning (Scholarly
Commenatry, Rossetti Archieve).
We
can also find a common feature in both the poem and the picture that is Dante’s
standing figure side by side Beatrice’s body; the 3rd verse states “Stood by, What time I Clamour’d upon
Death”(verse 3), which tries the reader to imagine Dante’s static figure next to the body of his
beloved woman. Moreover, the author has a feeling of desolation and blame,
feeling himself specially regretful but it is important too, a feeling of
faithfulness even after her death which can be observed from the 7th
to the 10th verse; “So by her
weeping where I lay beneath, some other…” (v 7-10), but his sleep is being disturbed
by the loos of his lady as we see in the verses 11th to 12th;
“One said, Awaken thee! And one…” (v
11-12). With that, his soul, his mind, his conscience wakes up from that
nightmare or bad dream and meanwhile he breaks into tears and the sorrow
appears in his face as we can see in the 13th to17th
verse: “With that… heart” (v 13-17).
The 23rd to 24th verses can be interpreted in this way;
probably the death is calling Dante to come with his beloved lady; “Saying under their breath… comfort him” (v
20-24). But if we continue reading the poem, we become aware of the death which
results unpredictable, that is the thing that disturbs him so much and he is
conscious about this thanks to the bad dream, as we can see in the 25th
verse; “Then unto me… which is his” (v 25).This can also be interpreted in
two ways; the first is that life is so mayfly
that it is important to enjoy every moment of our life (as the Latin proverb
goes “Carpe
Diem”); and the second interpretation is that death can be seen so
unpredictable than the author lives life as an unconditional surrender.
In the verse 32nd
to 34th Rossetti is interpreting the dream of that night and he is
describing all the sensations that made him be so sad, so lost; and these
feelings make him to be savage; “Whereby
my spirit… such a bewilderment” (v
32-34).
Again he claims to Death for having made Beatrice dead and with that,
Rossetti describes his feelings as we can see in the 36th verse, “Possess'd me, that I shut mine eyes for
peace; And in my brain did cease, Order of thought, and every healthful thing”,
(Rossetti
Dante Gabriel, “A very pitiful lady
very young”). Here he desires to die and spend the rest of his Heavenly
life with her. His love is too strong that he is not interested in living on
Earth any more because she doesn’t belong to this world from now on. He hopes
the Death to come and send him to Heaven where Beatrice’s soul is supposed to
rest in peace.
Another important feature is
that the author relates nature with his feelings making comparisons and
metaphors from verse 49th to 56th; “The while, little by little… ‘Hast thou not heard it said? Thy lady,
she that was so fair, is dead” (Rossetti Dante Gabriel, “A very pitiful lady very young”). In
these verses we can imagine the figure of the birds running away and the earth
shaking; these are the effects that the death of his fair lady, provoke on him.
The author worships Beatrice from verse 57th to 61st; “Then lifting up mine eyes… After the which
they went and said “Hosanna”. (Rossetti
Dante Gabriel, “A very pitiful lady
very young”). “Hosanna” is a word which
is only used to name and praise somebody who is seen superior, in this case as
a goddess. The author worships her as if she were superior as we can see in the
2nd verse; “Exceeding rich in
human sympathies” (verse 2).
Curiously, in the poem a
complete description of the painting appears commented before, 65th
– 70th verses; “These idle
phantasies, Then carried me to see my lady dead: And standing at her head, Her
ladies put a white veil over her; And with her was such very humbleness, That
she appeared to say; ‘I am at peace” (verses
65 - 70).
Finally to conclude the
analysis of the poem it is important to highlight that he is calling death
because he wants to go with the lady in
Heaven together because death has separated them and the only way to be with
her is through death, 77th- 83rd; “ Lo!
I do so desire …who meets thy glance!” (verse 77-83).
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
· The early Italian Poets From Ciullo D’Alcamo to Dante Alighieri (1100-1200-1300) the Alderman,
http://www.rossettiarchive.org/docs/1-1861.rad.html#11d-1861 23/02/06
· Rossetti
Archieve, Jerome J. McGann, 2004
http://www.rossettiarchive.org/img/s81.jpg 23/02/06
·
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Divina_Comedia 18/04/06
·Rossetti Archieve, Jerome J. McGann, 2004
http://join2day.com/abc/R/rossetti/rossetti39.JPG 15/04/06