His Mother's Service to Our Lady

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

General Description

Date: 1870
Rhyme: ababbccdcd
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: ballad
The final stanza, of seven lines, rhymes aaabaab.

Bibliography

See bibliography for the sequence of three Villon translations which included this one.

Annotations

Editorial glosses and textual notes are available in a pop-up window. Line numbering reflects the structure of the 1881 Poems First Edition text.

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction

This is the last of DGR's three translations from Villon that he included in his 1870 Poems. It is an interesting addition since it connects with the religious train of materials in the volume, and so uses Villon to underscore the poetical relation, so important to DGR, of sacred and profane love.

Textual History: Composition

WMR ( 1911 ) dates this translation 1870, and it is likely that DGR composed it in late March or early April, specifically to be placed in his forthcoming volume of poetry with the other two Villon translations already in the book (see DGR's letter to his publisher of 4 April 1870, Fredeman, Correspondence 70. 82 ).

Printing History

First published in the 1870 Poems, reprinted in the Poems. A New Edition, and collected thereafter.

Translation

DGR is translating Villon's Le Testament 873-909.

Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Source File: 25-1870.raw.xml