Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal was an English poet who is also remembered for her role as an artist’s model. She was often painted by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, her husband, and John Everett Millais. Her poetry often touched on dark themes and told stories of true love/lost love.
‘Early Death’ by Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal is a haunting meditation on mortality and spiritual transcendence. Written in the mid-19th century, the poem’s evocative imagery and simple yet powerful language have made it a lasting contribution to the canon of Victorian poetry.
Oh grieve not with thy bitter tears
The life that passes fast;
The gates of heaven will open wide
And take me in at last.
Siddal’s ‘A Silent Wood’ is a short, dark piece describing the misery of emotional loss and the power that memories can have.
O silent wood, I enter thee
With a heart so full of misery
For all the voices from the trees
And the ferns that cling about my knees.