Page:William Blake in his relation to Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1911).djvu/37

— 37 — poem of Rossetti and undoubtedly the poem which has mostly served of all Rossetti's poetical works to render him famous. In this lyric which sings of the longings of a holy virgin in heaven for the lover whom she left behind on earth, Rossetti blends in a wonderful way human devotion and pious mysticism. D. G. Rossetti himself says that the subject of the Blessed Damozel had been suggested to him by E. A. Poe's poem the Raven; what Poe had done for earthly love, he would do for the love in heaven. Critics all agree that this poem owes little to any previous writer. Benson sees traces of Coleridge's Ancient Mariner in it; Joseph Knight speaks of Rossetti being inspired when writing this poem by the pictures of the early Italian painters; even if these influences do exist they are very vague; far more real is in this instance Blake's influence; here indeed Rossetti owes much to this author.

We find in this poem, that physical facts have been introduced in an abstract subject, a very bold thing to do which Rossetti achieved with splendid tact. The Blessed Damozel is represented as standing on the rampart of Heaven; she sees the souls pass by her like thin flames, and " bowed herself and stooped Out of the circling charm, Until her bosom must have made The bar she leaned on warm." (stanza 8.) And again afterwards the spiritual virgin most ethereal of beings "laid her face between her hands and wept" (last stanza.) Blake very often introduces physical processes in abstract themes, though generally the effect is rather grotesque, owing to Blake's exaggeration. As an example for this a "Memorable Fancy" can serve in which Blake expresses his thoughts about the origin of the "principle of the human perception". This