Dove

Dante's. Her soul never to bloom, her bright hair to fade. I paraphrase. Ruskin's “Ida” after Tennyson, “a noble, glorious creature”; might have been “a countess”, Ruskin's father. A beautiful tree Ruskin wanted to save, a piece of Gothic he wanted to support. He tried... But Lizzie S. was always caught been life and death, earthly and heavenly love. Dante, her sickness and her medicine; laudanum, her familiar.

Picture credit: Beata Beatrix, 1864-1879, Gabriel Dante Rossetti (source: WikiArt).

Book recommendation: Lizzie Siddal by Lucinda Hawksley.

Written April 2022.