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A Foretaste

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

General Description

Date: 1848
Rhyme: abbaabbacdecde
Meter: iambic pentameter
Genre: sonnet

Bibliography

◦ Paull F. Baum, DGR: An Analytical List of Manuscripts in the Duke University Library (1931), 14-16, 56-65

◦ Frances Winwar, “Dante Gabriel's or William Michael's?” (March 1933), 312-315



This collection contains 2 texts and images, including:


Tinker Manuscript

Scholarly Commentary

Introduction

The poem is one of the group of sonnets that DGR and WMR wrote to rhymes set by each other in 1848 as a poetical exercise. The last few lines—the image of the gamster playing with his drink before throwing loaded dice— are arresting and quite effective.

Printing History

First printed by WMR in his 1911 edition, through not (apparently) from the Yale manuscript, which has a variant in line 3.

Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Source File: 25-1848.raw.xml