The small drawing treats in a rather homely fashion one of DGR's preoccupying
masculinist themes: the conflict epitomized in the Keatsian âbelle dame sans merciâ motif. The theme underlies the pervasive dualisms of DGR's work (Eve/Lilith;
Soul's Beauty/Body's Beauty; and so forth). The drawing should be compared with both
The Doom of the Sirens and The Orchard Pit.
Written below the drawing are two lines mistranscribed from Jacopo da Lentino's poem âMembrando ciò che amoreâ (lines 31-32). DGR translated the canzone as âAt the End of his Hopeâ, where the lines are rendered as: âThe mariner forgets,/Voyaging in those straitsâ. The pertinence of the reference to the drawing is underscored if one recovers more of the verse: âI am broken, as a ship/ Perishing of the song/Sweet, sweet and long, the song the sirens know./ The mariner forgets,/ Voyaging in those straits,/ And dies assuredly.â
This collection contains 1 text or image, including:
Manchester pen and ink drawing
Scholarly Commentary
IntroductionÂ
The small drawing treats in a rather homely fashion one of DGR's preoccupying masculinist themes: the conflict epitomized in the Keatsian âbelle dame sans merciâ motif. The theme underlies the pervasive dualisms of DGR's work (Eve/Lilith; Soul's Beauty/Body's Beauty; and so forth). The drawing should be compared with both The Doom of the Sirens and The Orchard Pit.
LiteraryÂ
Written below the drawing are two lines mistranscribed from Jacopo da Lentino's poem âMembrando ciò che amoreâ (lines 31-32). DGR translated the canzone as âAt the End of his Hopeâ, where the lines are rendered as: âThe mariner forgets,/Voyaging in those straitsâ. The pertinence of the reference to the drawing is underscored if one recovers more of the verse: âI am broken, as a ship/ Perishing of the song/Sweet, sweet and long, the song the sirens know./ The mariner forgets,/ Voyaging in those straits,/ And dies assuredly.â