Dante Gabriel Rossetti's poem “The Blessed Damozel” is full of religious symbolism. It talks about saints and the poem itself is set in heaven. But beneath the religious symbolism there is a profound sensuality, which leads one to wonder whether the “white rose of Mary's gift” referred to in line nine is the slightly less virginal gift of the Virgin Mary, or Mary Magdalene. . Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay While Damozel is in heaven, her appearance in heaven, her behaviors in life, and what happens when she and her lover reunite suggest some less than virginal intercourse, yet the damsel is "blessed" and resides in heaven . Rossetti was the son of liberals driven out of Italy – a strongly Catholic country – for their extreme political views. Although Rossetti himself was not political, he may have espoused similar views regarding politics and religion as his parents. In the poem “The Blessed Damozel,” Rossetti had the opportunity to essentially create his own paradise. Almost everything he wrote seems to demonstrate that Rossetti espoused an idea of ​​morality that was markedly different from the traditional Victorian one. He demonstrates this by depicting this blessed damsel in various "emphi" behaviors, such as walking around a little less than dressed, having her hair down, and collaborating with her lover, but still being "blessed", essentially rejecting the moral and religious norms of world. day. In the seventh line Rossetti describes the bridesmaid as wearing "her gown, loose from clasp to hem" which, depending on whether the bridesmaid was wearing clothing under her gown (she probably wasn't), certainly doesn't seem very, er, virginal . Never in Western history have robes been a primary form of clothing for women. Western women have worn bathrobes and dressing gowns, but the dresses, especially open ones, are not at all appropriate. In contrast to the stiff Victorian dresses, which were only slightly less conservative than a burqa, it seems that this Damozel was something of a shady woman. Dance hall girls and prostitutes also wore dresses that covered them from the breasts to the knees. Victorian morality was strong and would have condemned these women to hell. So, assuming that Damozel wanders the sky half naked, it would seem that partial nudity is not a problem in the hallowed realms of Rossetti. In fact, if it happens in heaven, you might even say that God condones it, which, if you're a Victorian, is bordering on blasphemy. One of the many oddities of the Victorian era was the social expectation that a woman should tie her hair up. Adult women of all social classes wrestled their hair into elaborate coiffures to rival the coiffures of the Rococo period. The only women who did not tie their hair were girls under fifteen/sixteen and women of ill repute, such as actresses. A woman with her hair down had a very seductive and intimate quality, and such action was usually reserved for after marriage. In the fourth stanza, the narrator says "(For one it's ten years /... Yet now, and in this place/Surely she bent over me: her hair/fell in my face/Nothing: the falling leaves in autumn./ The whole year passes by quickly.)” Such a posture belies and intimacy is not seen in the Victorians except in marriage, and there is no sign that a marriage existed between the narrator and the Damozel at that time . Evidently, Damozel and the Narrator were up to some ungodly shenanigans while she was alive. In the second stanza, Damozel is depicted with "her hair falling down her back."Now, keep in mind, this is in heaven. You would assume that decorum and propriety are always respected. The Damozel is at odds with all standards of propriety of her time, and yet, the Damozel is "Blessed" and in heaven. Rossetti evidently considered her worthy of that sort of exaltation, despite her incorrectness. Rossetti is perhaps stating that the way a woman dresses and does her hair has no impact on her character and what God thinks of her. You might say he is rejecting the idea that outward morality and propriety are what makes a person worthy of heaven. In stanzas 13-16 things really heat up, when the damsel and her beloved “bathe there before God,” lie together under the tree of life mentioned in Revelation, and says “And I myself will teach him,/ I myself, lying,/The songs I sing here; where his voice/ will pause, quiet and slow,/ and find a little bit of knowledge in every pause/ or some new things to know.”, which is honestly one of the sexiest things I've read this week. What happens in these verses sounds very similar to a marriage, therefore to consummation. In the fourteenth stanza, he says, “We two will stand beside that sanctuary, / Occult, hidden, unexplored, / Whose lamps are continually waved / With prayer sent to God; /And we see our old prayers, answered, melt away/Each like a little cloud." There are several elements in her that are reminiscent of a wedding, two people standing next to a shrine, a prayer to God, seeing their "old prayers answered prayers". It looks like a wedding. But what is interesting is that not only did this wedding start with a very, very sexy bath, but there is no officiant for this wedding. The Damozel and the Narrator are dealing directly with God, which is not something you see very often in Catholicism. In Catholicism, believers often ask a saint to intercede for them, and in verse eighteen Damozel and the Narrator come across an actual congregation of saints. But there is no mention of it of the saints until Damozel and his lover achieved the much desired union. This may be an example of Rossetti's rejection of the traditional view that a religious rite must be performed through someone talking to someone, talking to God. This is interesting, because the rejection of the saints was one of the foundations of the English Reformation under Henry VIII. Rossetti's parents rejected Italian Catholicism for Anglo-Catholicism when they arrived in England. This could be an example of Rossetti affirming that Anglo-Catholic faith. But there's no mention of a priest yet, just the two lovers before God. After this moment things start to get really hot. It is worth noting that in the fifteenth stanza Rossetti describes the lovers as “We two will lie in the shade of/That living mystic tree.” The tree under which they lie in the shade is a reference to the tree of life mentioned in Revelation 22:2. And, as mentioned in Christian doctrine, the Tree of Life was the tree whose fruit was forbidden to Adam and Eve, because it would destroy their innocence. You know what else destroys innocence? Sex. Here's what. And if the previous verse isn't proof enough that the Narrator and Damozel were being fools, let's then proceed to verse sixteen, where Damozel teaches the Narrator the "songs I sing here" and he "shall" pause, silently and slow, / and find a little knowledge in every pause, / or some new thing to know." It seems that the Narrator and the Damozel are, as the boys say, "Doing what they do," as is natural after a marriage What makes it unusual is that all this happens in heaven. Where God lives.