Recollections of Dante Gabriel Rossetti

A friendship begun through letters gives Hall Caine his point of view on Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Caine combines personal recollections with correspondence and literary criticism, prefacing them with a sketch of Rossetti's family and early life. The letters date from 1879 to 1881, and the preface explains how conversations with the ailing poet led Caine to regard their publication as a responsibility. His account records both affection for his friend and the contradictions he observed in him.

Much of the interest lies in the small decisions behind finished poems. Rossetti agrees to remove a stanza he admires when Theodore Watts thinks the poem works better without it, yet remains firm in other literary judgments. Discussions of Wordsworth, Coleridge and the name Christabel show friends testing opinions against books. For readers interested in poetry and artistic friendships, these exchanges make revision, influence and disagreement visible at close range.