The Poetry of Elizabeth Siddal: 'That I may not faint or die or swoon''

Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall was born on 25th July, 1829 in London into a working class family where she received an ‘ordinary education’. Whilst accounts may differ, it is clear that she met the Pre-Raphaelite painter William Deverell whilst working in a millinery shop and he asked her to model for him, describing her as "magnificently tall, with a lovely figure, and a face of the most delicate and finished modelling ... she has grey eyes, and her hair is like dazzling copper, and shimmers with luster." She personified female beauty for the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and her face became well known in Victorian Britain, gracing many famous paintings such as John Everett Millais's Ophelia, where she is portrayed drowned, floating in a pond. She modelled for this in a bathtub at Millais’ studio and whilst initially the water was heated from below, the candles or oil lamps went out and she was left for hours in cold water and unsurprisingly, especially with her delicate teenage constitution, caught pneumonia.

However, Elizabeth Siddal (she later changed the spelling of her name) did not remain a model or muse for 19th century men as she herself became an artist and a poet. Despite a toxic and probably controlling relationship with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who wouldn’t allow her to model for anyone but himself, she made great strides in her own art with his tuition and her talent. Art critic John Ruskin paid her an annual stipend and she was the only woman to exhibit with the Pre-Raphaelites in 1857 where she sold one of her paintings to an American collector.

She created numerous artworks, often inspired by Medieval themes but fewer poems despite the positive reception to her verse. Her poems were sad and often tragic, dwelling on lost or doomed love. They also suggest a strong connection with nature and have a haunting simplicity that is truly compelling.

Elizabeth Siddal had a laudanum addiction which may have contributed to her giving birth to a stillborn in 1861 and from which she never fully recovered. She committed suicide by an overdose the following year whilst pregnant on 11th February 1862. She was 32.

© 2024 Portable Poetry (Rafbók): 9781835475942

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Rafbók: 1 juni 2024