Write a note on Pre- Raphaelite Poets or Poems in English literature

Before the discussion of Pre- Raphaelite Poets or Poem, Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood or Pre- Raphaelite Movement is very important to know, because Without Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Pre- Raphaelite Poets do not exist.

What is the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood or movement?

Pre- Raphaelite is an artistic Movement started in England in 1948 by a group of poets , painters and critics, mainly three - Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William H. Hunt, John Everett Millais in London and called the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood who rejected the artistic creativity by Raphael, the Italian great painter that was started by the English Royal Academy.

How many members were Pre-Raphaelite?

There are seven members of a group with poets,painters and critics. William H. Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, Frederic George Stephens and Woolner in 1948 in London in response to the English Royal Academy of Arts.

Some names of Artistic painting of Pre- Raphaelite:

1. Ophelia by John Everett Millais

2. The Light of the World by William H. Hunt

3. Proserpine by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

4. The Finding of the Saviour in the Temple by William Holman Hunt.

5. Christ in the House of His Parents

 by John Everett Millais.

Some Important short quotes related to Pre-Raphaelite:

1. "Art for art's sake" ,It is the Slogan for the Pre- Raphaelite Movement.

2. "Go to the nature" by Ruskin Bond

3. "The Fleshly school of poetry" by Robert Butchnan

 

Characteristics of Pre-Raphaelite:

1)Break the Raphael's traditional art skill 

2) based on Medievalism and want to revive the biblical themes

3) Devotion to Detail:

The Blessed Damozel: by Rossetti

Quote:

The blessed Damozel leaned out

From the gold bar of heaven;

Her eyes were deeper than the depth

Of waters stilled at even;

She had three lilies in her hand,

And the stars in her hair were seven.

(4)Sensuousness: 

Rossetti’s My Sister’s Sleep:

Quote:

Without, there was a cold moon up, 

Of winter radiance sheer and thin; 

The hollow halo it was in

Was like an icy crystal cup.

5) Metre and Music: by Swinburne in Tristram of Lyonesse (1882):

Quote:

Nor shall they feel or fear, whose date is done, 

Aught that made once more dark the living sun 

And bitterer in their breathing lips the breath 

Then the dark dawn and bitter dust of death.

Pre- Raphaelite poetry was started by hand of Dante Gabriel Rossetti in London and letter, to write such kind of poems, William Morris, Algernon Charles Swinburne and Christian Georgina Rossetti joined this group and they published their poems in Magazine "The Germ" in 1948.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti:

 One of the best Pre- Raphaelite poets. He is not only a poet but also a painter. His poetic creativity is the result of pictorial representation of the renaissance and he was mostly influenced by Shakespeare, William Blake. "The Blessed Damozel" is an artistic poem that reflects the pictorial qualities and passionate religious note that was inspired by Edger Elen Poe's The Raven. The House of Life is a sonnet sequences of 101 poems, in this sonnets ,he creates physical beautiness, sensual love, passionate zeal . In the words of Moody  and Lovett, Rosetti's love poem  

“achieves a subtle synthesis of almost oriental sensuousness, emotional intensity and spiritual elevation.”

William Morris: 

William Morris is another Pre- Raphaelite poet who showed his poetic stamina based on mediaevalism painting which was greatly influenced by the work of Gabriel Rossetti. In 1867, he published a romantic narrative poem "The Life and Death of Jason''. His best creation is "The Earthly Paradise"(1868-70), a series of narrative poems, in which, the poet narrates the retelling stories of Greece and Scandinavian which is based on in the name of classical and medieval events. The Freeing of Pharamond: A Morality (1872), The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs (1877),Hopes and Fears For Art (1882),The Pilgrims of Hope (1885),A Dream of John Ball (1888) are the famous work of him 

Algernon Charles Swinburne:

Without the work of Swinburne, the Pre- Raphaelite poetry would not complete. He was expart for his musical prosodic talent. "Atalanta in Calydon '' is his first poem based on Greek Tragedy. The characteristics of his poetries are Rhythmic power, persistent alliteration and variation of stress. "Poems and Ballads "(1866) take the popularity and controversies for  some social taboos. "Songs before Sunrise" (1871), a collection of poems based on Italy. "Tristram and Other  Poems" are poem of heroic couplet And "Erechtheus" is a work of Greek Tragedy.

Christian Georgina Rossetti:

The pseudonym of Ellen Alleyne, and the sister of Gabriel Rossetti at the time of Victorian Age, Christina Georgina Rossetti, contributed her five poems in the Journal The Germ in 1850. "Goblin Market and other poems "(1862) are the most important works by her and "The Prince's Progress  and Other Poems''(1866). She also showed the sensuous abilities of pictorial qualities .

Conclusion:

The Pre-Raphaelite poets are belong to Victorian Age but their passion of creativity is was Art for Art's Sake and the feeling to go back nature in the hand of Mediaeval words and pictures the  sensuousness, melody of voice, picture of physical beautiness of mediaeval era through the poetry.