An Analysis of Lilith (Bodys Beauty) :: Lilith Essays

An Analysis of Lilith  (Bodys Beauty)   First publi discombobulate in 1868 in Swinburnes pamphlet-review, Notes on the Royal Academy Exhibition, the sonnet entitled Lilith was indite to accompany the pic Lady Lilith. The poem and picture appeared alongside Rossettis movie Sibylla Palmifera and the sonnet Souls Beauty, which was written for it. In 1870, both of these poems were published among the Sonnets for Pictures section of Rossettis Poems.   In 1881, however, it occurred to Rossetti to assembly line the two as representatives of fleshly and spiritual beauty, and thus he transferred them to The House of bread and butter (Baum 181). The Lilith sonnet was and so renamed Bodys Beauty in order to bring out the contrast between it and Souls Beauty, and the two were placed sequentially in The House of life-time (sonnets number 77 and 78). Because Rossetti headmasterly named the sonnet Lilith and only changed the name to highlight the contrast between it and Soul s Beauty, this study will refer to it by its original name. Lilith reads as follows   Of Adams first wife, Lilith, it is told (The witch he loved before the collapse of Eve,) That, ere the snakes, her sweet tongue could deceive, And her enchanted hair was the first gold. And still she sits, new-fangled while the earth is old, And, subtly of herself contemplative, Draws men to watch the bright wind vane she can weave, Till heart and body and life are in its hold. The rose and poppy are her flower for where Is he not found, O Lilith, whom shed scent And soft-shed kisses and soft sleep shall snare? Lo as that youths eyes burnt at thine, so went Thy spell through him, and left his straight come bent And round his heart one strangling golden hair. (Collected Works, 216).   overmuch like Lady Lilith, Lilith celebrates the pleasures of physicality. As an enchantress, she draws men to watch the bright meshwork she can weave, but she does not invite them to be mere voyeurs of her charms (line 7). Instead, she invites them to her and then ensnares them in her web of physical beauty, ultimately causing their death (line 8).   subtly of herself contemplative, a phrase echoing Paters famous description of the Mona Lisa, highlights Liliths attitude of hot self applause, an attitude which was so visually apparent in Rossettis painting (Baum 185).