F. S. Ellis's Publications.
MR. ROSSETTI'S POEMS.
Fourth Edition.
Now Ready, crown 8vo. in an ornamental binding, designed by the Author.Price 12s.
POEMS.By Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.
Academy.
'This book, so eagerly looked for by those who know the author by his great works in painting, has now been given to the public; nor is it easy to exaggerate the value and importance of that gift, for the book is complete and satisfactory from end to end; and in spite of the intimate connexion between one art and another, it is certainly to be wondered at that a master in the supremely difficult art of painting should have qualities which enable him to deal with the other supremely difficult one of poetry, and to do this not only with the utmost depth of feeling and thought, but also with the most complete and unfaltering mastery over its material; that he should find in its limitations and special conditions, not stumbling-blocks or fetters, but just so many pleasures, so much whetting of invention and imagination. In no poems is the spontaneous and habitual interpenetration of matter and manner, which is the essence of poetry, more complete than in these . . . . . . . .
'In speaking of a book where the poems are so singularly equal in merit as this, it has been scarcely possible to do more than name the most important, and several even must remain unnamed; but it is something of a satisfaction to finish with the mentioning the "Song of the Bower," so full of passion and melody, and more like a song to be sung than any modern piece I know. To conclude, I think these lyrics, with all their other merits, the most complete of their time; no difficulty is avoided in them, no subject is treated vaguely, languidly, or heartlessly; as there is no commonplace or second-hand left in them to be atoned for by beauty of execution, so no thought is allowed to overshadow that beauty of art which compels a real poet to speak in verse and not in prose. Nor do I know what lyrics of any time are to be called great, if we are to deny that title to these.'
Fortnightly Review.
'There are no poems of the class (songs and sonnets) in English—I doubt if there be any even in Dante's Italian—so rich at once and pure. Their golden affluence of images and jewel-coloured words never once disguises the firm outline, the justice and chastity of form.
