The Self-searching Of A Pre-raphaelitism Poet: A Study Of Dante Rossetti’s “The Blessed Damozel”

Dante Gabriel Rossetti(1828-1882),a famous Victorian painter and poet,was one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelites,and his poetry is both Pre-Raphaelitism and distinctive in its own way.The long poem “The Blessed Damozel”,one of Rossetti’s masterpieces,was written before the Pre-Raphaelites were founded and published in their magazine The Germ.And it is a clear demonstration of the poetic choices of the Pre-Raphaelites.Rossetti’s theme of self-searching runs throughout this poem,but scholarly research on Rossetti has not focused on the spirit of self-searching that he conveys through his work.In view of this,this study focuses on the work “The Blessed Damozel” to explore Rossetti’s self-searching in this poem based on his Pre-Raphaelitism style as one of the founding fathers of Pre-Raphaelitism.Specifically,Rossetti makes a journey of self-searching in following three ways.First,he explores a medieval modernism path of his own by returning to medieval themes.His medievalism is reflected in the form of his poetry,his themes,and the influence of Dante on him.His modernism is reflected in his mysticism,which differs from the religious mysticism of other Pre-Raphaelites,whose mysticism is an attempt to realize the mysticism of spiritual unity based on Neoplatonism.Secondly,Rossetti incarnates the male lover in his poetry and sees Damozel as the carrier of his desire to unite with her to get rid of the subjective isolation.Therefore,he uses detailed descriptions and symbolism to both depict Damozel’s physical beauty and purify Damozel,seeing her as the supreme symbol of beauty.Finally,Rossetti’s notion of“intersexuality” in his poetry is also a response to Victorian gender prejudice,and the idea of transcending gender boundaries in his work is a way for the artist to break away from gender to find himself.Through this poem,Rossetti explores how a modern writer should draw his spirit from ancient themes,how to face the challenges of different styles so as to develop his own style,and moreover,how a male writer should break the gender prejudice,which has a profound influence on later writers as well as modern human beings.