The Resurrection of the Daisy 1861. Etching on steel in black ink, 7 ½ x 8 ¾ inches (19.0 x 22.2 cm) – sheet size. Collection of Tate Britain, reference no. NO2400. Click on image to enlarge it.
The poem printed beneath the image is taken from the Prologue to Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Legend of Good Women”:
My busy ghost, that thirsteth always new
To see this flow'r so young, so fresh of hue,
Constrained me with so greedy desire,
That in my heart I feelen yet the fire,
That made me to rise e’re it were day, --
And this was now the first morrow of May, --
With dreadful heart, and glad devotion,
For to be at the resurrection
Of this flower, when that it should unclose
Against the sun, that rose as red as rose,” &c. —
Chaucer, 1370.
In the foreground of the etching Chaucer is seen by a path giving the flower to a maiden in a meadow opening from a forest in the background. Chaucer was a poet revered by Dante Gabriel Rossetti and his circle, particularly by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones.
Last modified 24 March 2022