New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-04-30
DANTE ROSSETTl.
HIS DEATH-UIS SINGULAR POSITION IN
LITERATURE, Art AND THE WORLD

The death OF Dante Ganfltl hpSSell "O'"i'''
Sunday night He had long been i'll, and an agra
walton of his malady announced last week 10
certain number of friends the loss will be-not in
the conventional scnse-irreparable For the Eng
isb world of art and letters he lives. and will long
live in his works HIS more general iamcln literature
ia comnaratIyeIy recent The dedicatlOns to the Two
Volumes of poems point to the intimacy OF the audi
ence for which Rossetti cared. Everybody knows
the story true or false of the writing ana ourylhg
and unburylng of the verses first made known 10
the public Ill 1870. In the first Poems the Wil'er
saws; ITO William Michael Rossctti, these POEMS
TO so many of which. 80 many years back, no gave
tbe first brotherly hearing, are now at last ded-
cated.r Eleven years laer came the Ballads ana
Sonnets" with dedication perhaps sill more
Characteristic: ITO Theodore Watts. the FRIEND
whom nv verse won for me, these few more pages
are atfectionatelv inscribed"
When the Poems appeared, in 1870. Dante
Gabriel Rosset.l was name and nothing more 10
the British public. To the majority he was not 50
much as that. People whose interest III art TOOK
wider range than he walls of the Academy Kne"
something of Rossctti as a painter. few friends,
to whom he used to recite his poems, knew MN as
poet. In Literature as in Art he as one of a group.
and was by no the first of the group To seek
general recognition. Mr. Swinburne had published
ten wears before lin $500, THE Queen Mother"
and Rosamond" two PLAYS in one volume, with
the imprint of b. NJ. Pickering, now one OF the
scarcest of modern books. Mr.. Pickering USED To
say that he sold twelve copies of 1t before trans
ferring the remainder of the $50 pTlnteu TO MesHrs
uovon vbo substituted their own title page for
pjcleunps Mr. Swinburne's little volume is - af-
fectionately inscribed to Dante Gabriel Rossetu."
Two wears before Mr.. Swinburne's Queen
Mother" another little book had been printed by
Bell d BAL IT, The Defence OfGucnevere and other
Poems" by William Morris To my Friend Dante
Gabriel R0ssetti. Painter, dedicate these Poems
wrote Mr.. Morris. 1t may he said that Mr. SWIM
burpe did not definitely make his appearance as a
poet till " ATLANTA in Ca.ydon" touched the fancy
OF the town, in lS65; nor Mr. Morris ill the publ
cation Of the Life and Death OF } SON. IN lS67
or still more decidedly IN the year following with
the fIst parts of The Earthly Paradise" Ross ttfs
name IN any case can have been Of little or no
service TO either of his friends Both were much
younger even than Ro<setti both had looked to
Rosselti for inspiration of one kind or another
neither can have expected or wished his name To
commend them to public to which all three were
alike unknown.
Rossctti indeed had published as early as 1861 his
TRANSACTIONS of Early Italian Poets including iantcs
Vita Nuova This had made him known to the
Dantean circle in England but the Dantean circle
III England not then. and is not now. of very
wide circumferencc-notliing like 50 wide a. nifty
years ago.
If Won look in Alibone's dictionary you will find
this book set down to Rossetti whose name Dir.
Alhbonc with his usual laundering sOvenliness.
ccntrivcs to misspell All Mr. Alllbone has to say
of Dante Gabriel Rossctti individually is that he Is
brother TO christina On referring to Christina,
tahv al
such helplulness IS Alhbone to the inquirer lie
does add TO be sure, that Rosett is well known as
designer for illustrated works. The volume of the
dictionary in which Rossettis name occurs APP
peared the same year as Rossetts poems; and to
that extent Nh Alhbone may stand excused.
Ros,etli himself was probably surprised by the
snddenness and extent of the celebrity which his
verse brought him. He was instantly attacked by
the critics who had fallen foul of Mr.. SIvIuhurnc;
and on the same pretext of " indeccncy";
pretext based mostly on single poem,
which was in other respects among
the least characteristic of RoSsetti's genius. What
ever else might be- said of him. he stood revealed the
admitted master of the sonnet in its most artificial
and perfect form The art of his versiicatiOn was
not more admirable than the poets originality and
power His poems endured even the PhIllstine test
Of success They sold. Presently the volume be
second-hand shops. Not ill last year, contempora-
neouSly with the publication of his " Ballads
would Russetti consent to the reprinting of the
POEMS" For the " Ballads and Sonnets" pub
lie stood ready and waiting; much larger public
than salutes any but the most popular poets. Mr..
Ellis told me- not many days after the " Ballads
appeared that the first edition OF 900 copies had
been sold out, and that a second was printing. Yet
the Ballads" like the Poems" bear III every line
the mark of having been written without thought
of HE general reader. sun more IS this true of the
SOnnets They expressive Of a mood which has
little IN common with to-day; remote often myst-
cal passionate enough sometimes sensuOus often
picturesque and above all things literary the work
of man to whom books and art have been the od
of thought, with much brooding over subjects on
which healthier nature would have sought knowl
ed &c in the sunlight and in contact with men and
women.
ROssetti's reputation as a painter has long stood
high yet few men could explain the secret OF IT, or
give much account of his pictures The Academy
knew him not. yet the Grosvenor Gallery. Long
ago the public open-eared for novelty, heard of
Ros,etti as chief among the pre-Raphacites.
Presently the other pre-Raphaelites, Mr. Holman
Hunt, MrMillais and later BnrneJ ones. stepped
out Of their seclusion abandoning less of
the peculiar theory of art which went to the
making of that particular clique and at any rate
appealing directly TO the public. But the Ros
seti was left alone the he cling to his lone
ness His frescoes at oxford are known; one pic
ture the "Danics Dream" has been cxhibited-in
Liverpool rot in LondOn-Or the rest, the world OF
art-worshippers such it in England. has not
much but hearsay to 60 upon. ! cannot remember
to have seen or heard of single work of Dante
Rossetti ia the auction room. Such he chose to
sell there always friends ready to buy at q
considerable price, but the hammer to which
or later comes the work of every artist has never
think faIlen on a Dcture al Rossetfi