Elizabeth Siddal’s poems were never published in her lifetime. Dates of when they are written are unknown. It is tempting to view them as autobiographical, but I urge you not to do so in order to allow her work to stand on its own merits. The stories of Siddal’s relationship with Rossetti, addiction, stillbirth and death have become so mythologized that they overshadow her work to the point that we are in danger of viewing her poems as clues to her personal life instead of poetic works worthy of merit. Her poems were published in the hard to find volume ‘Poems and Drawings of Elizabeth Siddal”, Wombat Press in 1978. Co-editors Roger C. Lewis and Mark Samuels Lasner.
Did Lizzie Siddal write only fifteen poems, or are there more unpublished ones?
Just fifteen that I know of. In The Legend of Elizabeth Siddal, Jan Marsh says “But her poetry – fifteen more or less complete poems, plus some fragments – is also an important part of her ‘own story’.” (p.198)
Off the top of my head, I can’t think of the ‘plus some fragments’ she refers to, but I don’t think they are complete poems.
People have emailed me before, saying that they had poems of Lizzie’s that are not included on this site, but they turned out to be poems by Gillian Allnut. Allnut had published a collection titled Lizzie Siddall: Her Journal 1862, but it is fictional poetry written in the voice of Lizzie. None of them are by Lizzie herself.
You shld add my “Poems and Drawings of Elizabeth Siddal” pub by Wombat Press in 1978. Available from Ian Hodgkins & Co. bookstore in England. Co-editor Mark Samuels Lasner
Hell-o, first I would like to congratulate you for this fantastic website.
I keep in mind long time ago the idea of making a music album based on Lizzie’s poetry and I think the moment has come. Everything has to be perfect, even the smallest details. Many of these details will come out step by step during the composition but it is one of them that I would like to know if it’s possible. This is if it is possible to know the order of poems cronologically, it is important to know what song will be first to open the album.
Thank you for your beautiful work and dedication in order to keep alive the memory of this marvelous woman.
Igor Mesmer.
p.s. Please answer to carodataver@hotmail not to the website contact. Thank you so much.
I hear a similar echo in these poems written by Elizabeth Siddal and many of the poems written by Christina Rossetti. Do you know how they got along with each other.? Christina suffered from boughts of depression also, I would hypothasise this may have caused them to avoid one another for fear of recognizing themselves in each other, even though we would (I would lol) initially think that ithis would cause friendship. Both are beautiful poets.
An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a colleague who had been conducting a little research on this. And he actually bought me breakfast simply because I discovered it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanx for spending the time to discuss this subject here on your blog.