Sonnet (“O thou whose name being alone aloud—)

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

General Description

Date: 1848 or 1847

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction

The full text of this sonnet is unpublished. It comes down to us in two draft texts, one partial the other complete. Both are located in the library of the Delware Art Museum.

The poem clearly echoes various early works that take up the Dantean theme of Beatrice—works of translation as well as a poem like “The Blessed Damozel” and several of the poems in the group of sonnets that he wrote to rhymes set by WMR (see for example “Another Love”). This text may have itself been one of those poetical exercises.

Textual History: Composition

Written in 1848, possibly in 1847.

Printing History

Three lines were published as a fragment by WMR in 1911 (page 243).

Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Source File: 47-1871.raw.xml