“Bocca baciata non perda ventura, anzi rinnova come fa la luna.” 

THE ARGUMENT

Dante Gabriel Rossetti is near death. In a delirium, from the advance of his last illness or from the effects of drink and opiates, he imagines himself to be still at home, at night and alone. He is visited in turn by the memories or essences of three women. These spirits also embody the past, the recent present, and the future or eternity. The first apparition takes the form of his wife, Elizabeth Siddal, now dead. The second is his lover, Jane Burden Morris, also the wife of his friend, now parted from him by circumstance and by her choice. The last is Dante’s Beatrice as Rossetti has imagined or dreamt her over the course of his life.

THE INDEX

1. Rossetti Alone
   1. A House Empty of Life
   2.  Elements 

2. The Apparition of Elizabeth Siddal
   1. The Figure and the Ground
   2. This Loving Hand
   3. Stillborn Love 

3. The Apparition of Jane Burden Morris
   1. The Queen of Beauty/The Kissed Mouth
   2. Love So Solid Seeming 

4. The Apparition of Beatrice
   1. A Superscription
   2. The House of Life
   3. The Unkissed Mouth
   4. The New Life

 NOTES AND SOURCES