PhD in Philology, Researcher at the Department of Literary Studies, Institute of Scientific Information for Social Sciences of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia, Moscow, kolosova@inion.ru, ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1333-9129
This paper examines the poetry of Elizabeth Eleanor Siddal (1829–1862), who is primarily recognized as the muse and model for members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Almost immediately following her death, her biography was reshaped into the romanticized myth of the ‘charming muse,’ while her diverse artistic contributions were marginalized within Victorian cultural discourse. This study focuses on an analysis of two poems – The Lust of the Eyes and Fragment of a Ballad – which are significant not merely as part of an effort to ‘rehabilitate a forgotten author.’ Rather, they illuminate a distinct mechanism of cultural representation: the ways in which a marginalized figure – the Victorian Other – attempts to articulate her alienation through the language of the dominant culture. Despite differences in voice and perspective, both poems converge on a shared thematic concern – the fundamental impossibility of authentic intersubjective connection between a man and a woman. Of particular interest are the motif of silence, the irresolvable romantic conflict, and Siddal’s poetic strategies for deconstructing binary oppositions such as “active man / passive woman” and “subject / object.”
Elizabeth Siddal; Siddall; Dante Gabriel Rossetti; Pre-Raphaelites; Brotherhood; Victorian literature; Victorian poetry; women’s poetry.
Download textFor citing: Kolosova E.I. (2025) Beyond the Other’s Gaze: the (Un)Spoken in Elizabeth Siddal’s Poetry. Human being: Image and essence. Humanitarian aspects. Moscow. INION RAN.Vol. 4 (64). pp. 79-95. DOI: 10.31249/chel/2025.04.05