Dante Gabriel Rossetti :: Biography Biographies Essays

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Dante Gabriel Rossetti was born in 1828, but not with that name not entirely, that is. In truth, he was born Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti, son of an Italian disciple living in London, but later changed the arrangement of his name so as to closer identify himself with the great 13th-14th century Italian poet Dante Aligheri, author of la Divina Comedia and Vita Nuova (Everett, np). His obsession with Dante impacted his work, both literary and artistic from his masterpiece Beata Beatrix to his poetry buried with wife Elizabeth Siddal, he lived and worked under the duality of beauty, the fight between the consistency and the soul, best expressed in The House of Life, particularly sonnets 77 and 78, Souls Beauty and Bodys Beauty respectively. Even early in his career, Rossettis interest in Dante is apparent. In 1848, he translated portions of Aligheris Vita Nuova, which details Dantes unconsummated love for Beatrice, a theme that also runs through the Divine Comedy. It is at this time that Rossetti changed the order of his name and initials, dropping Charles altogether. This would become a lifelong identification with the poet, emphasized by his relationship with Elizabeth Siddal (Rodgers, p 16). In 1860, Rossetti married Siddal, a model and artist with whom he had an affair. This wasnt a happy marriage, both partners suffering from depression and drug addiction. Moreover, this was a pity marriage, done not out of love but out of loyalty to Siddal, believing he could excuse her from herself. Part of Rossettis obsession with Dante became an identification of two kinds of love, one being chaste and spiritual and identified with the person of Beatrice, the other being earthly and physical. In marrying Siddal, Rossetti matte he was destroying her position as Beatrice, despite the fact that they were already lovers. The marriage was a short, tumultuous one, ending in the suicide of Siddal by way of a drug overdose of Laudanum, an opiate. Depressed, especially since the miscarriage of their only child, and no doubt also by Rossettis infidelities, particularly with Jane Morris, wife of friend and fellow Pre-Raphaelite William Morris, Siddal is vista to have intentionally overdosed on the narcotic.