"The Blessed Damozel" BY Gabrieal Rosetti

"The Blessed Damozel" is beautiful in that if flows so easily from one line to the next and it seems, although it is not very apparent, that Rossetti filled it with symbolism and references to his own personal feelings and future life. 

The first few stanzas tell of how the Damozel is in heaven overlooking earth and thinking of her lover. Rossetti writes in stanza three of how time to the Damozel seemed to last forever because she was without her love. "To one it is ten years of years..." There are a few stanzas in the poem where the narrative jumps to her lover. In stanza four, it is the lover on earth talking about his beloved. The next few stanzas describe heaven, where it lies, and other lovers reuniting around her as she sits and watches...alone.

 In stanzas ten and eleven, her earthbound lover describes the sound of her voice like a bird's song which tells the reader that not only is he thinking of her, but it hints he can hear her and feel her about him. Of course, she can not understand why she must be miserable in heaven when all others are with their loves, after all, "Are not two prayers a perfect strength?" (stanza 12). In stanza thirteen, she dreams of the day that they will be together and present themselves in the beauty and glory of God. It is also in this stanza that Rossetti lets the reader know that she has not yet entered heaven. She is at the outer gates of the kingdom of heaven.

Through the second half of the poem, the Damozel refers to herself and her lover as "we two" and describes how they will be together again someday in heaven. The Damozel even says she will teach him the songs that she sings...and she dreams of them together. It is in the next stanza,, that the narrative changes again back to the lover. He says that she keeps on saying "we two" but when and will they ever really be together like they used to be. Rossetti is using the Damozel in these few stanzas to describe how the Damozel would want her ideal and perfect love to be, but could that really be with her in heaven and him on earth? The two worlds separating them doesn't keep them apart in thought, but it is not possible to be together. In stanza twenty-two, she once again says that she will want their love to be as it was on earth with the approval of Christ the Lord.
Near the end of the poem, in the last couple of stanzas, the Damozel finally realizes that she can have none of this until the time comes. The Damozel suddenly becomes peaceful and lets the light take her in stanza twenty-three. It is there that the reader also realizes that she will enter heaven without her love. Her lover on earth, of course, knows this and it is there in the last stanza that "I saw her smile...I hear her tears." Apart, but together in hearts, the two are separated by two worlds so great that there is nothing that can be done but hope and pray. And that is why the Damozel "laid her face between her hands, And wept."
       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.
The painter's choices and inclusion of detail also connect with his descriptive stanzas and illustrate the overall mood of the poem. "The Blessed Damozel" contains three different vantage points: that of the the Damozel's from heaven, the lover's from his memories and fantasies, and the lover's from his current consciousness. This last voice is indicated by parentheses, which separate the lover's earthly thoughts from the Damozel's reflective musings. By painting the Damozel on the upper portion and her beloved on the lower, Rossetti clearly demonstrates this spatial separation. He also emphasizes the fact that while this separation does not allow them to be together physically, it cannot keep them apart in their thoughts. In lines 37-42, the Damozel observes,
Around her, lovers, newly met
       'Mid deathless love's acclaims,
Spoke evermore among themselves
       Their heart-remembered names;
And the souls mounting up to God
       Went by her like thin flames.
Here the Damozel questions why she cannot be with her beloved in Heaven when all others are with their loves. "Have I not prayed in Heaven? — on earth, Lord, Lord, has he not pray'd? / Are not two prayers a perfect strength?" she asks. Rossetti paints other ethereal lovers in various forms of embrace behind her, using warm, luminous tones to create a vision of idealized love in a glorious Heaven. However, this inclusion also contrasts and highlights the Damozel's unhappy and tragic situation. He also distinguishes this depiction of Heaven by using darker muted greens and browns to paint Earth. Throughout the poem, the Damozel dreams of the day when she and her beloved will be reunited and present themselves before God. In lines 125-132, the Damozel describes how her ideal love will be approved:
And angels meeting us shall sing
To their citherns and citoles.
'There will I ask of Christ the Lord
Thus much for him and me: —
Only to live as once on earth
With Love, — only to be,
As then awhile, for ever now
Together, I and he.'
Despite her hopes and prayers, the Damozel eventually realizes that she cannot be with her beloved until the right time comes and that she shall be enteringHeaven without him. The Damozel "laid her face between her hands, And wept" while her lover on Earth "hears her tears." They remain apart, yet together in their hearts, separated by the two worlds. As a member of the PRB, Rossetti did not focus on biblical or typological symbolism with the intensity of William Holman Hunt. While "The Blessed Damozel" includes obvious references to biblical imagery, such as the allusion to God and Mother Mary, Rossetti does not seem to be as interested in religious symbolism in his painting. Instead, he creates a dreamy vision of Heaven full of angels, flowers and lovers — but one that still separates the two tragic lovers. In his painting, Rossetti seems to utilize the Damozel's place in Heaven and her concerns with God's grace in order to emphasize and glorify the spiritual depths of the feminine soul.