Rossetti Archive Textual Transcription
Document Title: Sister Helen (fair copy of lines 204-245, Lilly Library collection):
Rossetti Archive Document
Author: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Date of Composition: 1881
Type of Manuscript: fair copy manuscript
Scribe: DGR
The
full Rossetti Archive record for this transcribed document is available.
page: [1]
Printer's Direction: N.B. insert these stanzas at page 142 after /
“The way is long, between Hell & Heaven
Editorial Description: Note to locate the placement of the lines in the poem
Manuscript Addition: 91
Editorial Description: Pagination number at bottom right
- “A lady's here, by a dark steed brought,
- Sister Helen,
- So darkly clad, I saw her not.”
- “See her now or never see aught,
- Little brother!”
- (
O Mother, Mary Mother,
-
What more to see, between Hell & Heaven?)
- “Her hood falls back, & the moon shines fair,
- Sister Helen,
-
10 On the Lady of Ewern's golden hair.”
- “Blest hour of my power & her despair,
- Little brother!”
- (
O Mother, Mary Mother,
-
Hour
blesth blest and bann'd, between Hell and
Heaven!
)
- “Pale, pale her cheeks, that in pride did glow,
- Sister Helen,
- 'Neath the bridal-wreath three days ago.”
- ”One morn for pride and three days for woe,
- Little brother!”
-
20 (
O Mother, Mary Mother,
-
Three days, three nights, between Hell & Heaven!)
page: [2]
Manuscript Addition: 92
Editorial Description: Pagination number at bottom right
- “Her clasped hands stretch from her bending head,
- Sister Helen;
- With the loud wind's wail her sobs are wed.”
- “What wedding-strains hath her bridal-bed,
- Little brother?”
- (
O Mother, Mary Mother,
-
What strains but death's, between Hell &
Heaven?
)
- “She may not speak, she sinks in a swoon,
-
30 Sister Helen,—
- She lifts her lips and gasps on the moon.”
- “Oh! might I but hear her soul's blithe tune,
- Little brother!”
- (
O Mother, Mary Mother,
-
Her woe's dumb cry, between Hell & Heaven!)
- “They've caught her to Westholm's saddle-bow,
- Sister Helen,
- And her moonlit hair gleams white in its flow.”
- “Let it turn whiter than winter snow,
- Little brother!”
- (
O Mother, Mary Mother,
-
Woe-withered gold, between Hell & Heaven!)
Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Copyright: Used with permission of Lilly Library, Indiana University.