1. The Tune of the Seven
Towers by Dante Gabriel
Rossetti and William Morris
Božena Bedulska, Gabija Karpauskaitė
Year 4: Group 4
English Philology: Visual Arts and Literature
23/04/2013

2. Outline
 Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
 Dante Gabriel Rossetti
 The Tune of the Seven Towers. The Painting
 William Morris
 Medievalism
 The Tune of Seven Towers. The Poem

3. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
 Founded in 1848
 John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt and
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
 Ideas:
 interest in art, literature, history and religion
 importance of imagination
 source of inspiration: 15th century art
(BBC 4 2013)

4. John Everett Millais,
‘Christ in the House of his Parents’,
1849-1850.

5. William Holman Hunt
‘The Hireling Shephard’, 1851

6. Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
‘Beata Beatrix’, c. 1864-1870

7. Dante Gabriel Rossetti
 painter, poet, translator, publisher of a magazine and
founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
 ideas in art
 medieval legend
 Italian poetry
 old English ballads
 features: dreamy imagination, sensuality and mystery
(Sizeranne 2008:169-172)
(1828-1882)

8. Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
‘The Tune of the Seven Towers’,
1857.

9. The Tune of the Seven Towers
(1)
 might be read autobiographically:
 considered marriage to Elizabeth Siddall
 orange tree – symbol of marriage placed on the bed
 scene melancholic, even fatal  allusion to Siddall’s
illness
(Tate 2004)
 title  Turkish castle of Seven Towers
(The Rossetti Society 2008)

10. The Tune of the Seven
Towers (2)
Yedikule ‘The Castle of Seven
Towers’ (Turkey, Istanbul) (1827)
Yedikule ‘The Castle of Seven
Towers’ (Turkey, Istanbul) (now)

11. The Tune of the Seven
Towers (3)
 suggests ‘the legends of chivalry and the Crusades’
(The Rossetti Society 2008)
 scallop shell, worn by a woman
 associated with Camino of Santiago
 therefore long journey that her lover has gone to
 lover imprisoned in the Castle
 melancholy reflects her state of mind
(ibid.)

12. Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
‘The Tune of the Seven Towers’,
1857.

13. The Tune of the Seven Towers
(4)
 dove in an aperture  perhaps bringing the news
about the beloved one
 pictures on the pennant:
 lily, moon  purity
 rose, sun  passion
 castle  the castle where the lover is
(The Tate Gallery 1984:281)

14. Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
‘The Tune of the Seven Towers’,
1857.

15. William Morris (1)
 Artist, writer, textile
designer
 Associated with the Pre-
Raphaelite Brotherhood
and English Arts and
Crafts Movement
 Founded a design firm
with Edward Burne-Jones
and Dante Gabriel
Rossetti
(1834-1896)

16. William Morris (2)
 Helped establish modern fantasy genre
 Wrote and published poetry, fiction, and translations of
ancient and medieval texts
 Best known works: The Defence of Guenevere and Other
Poems (1858), The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870), The
Well at the World's End (1896)
(1834-1896)

17. Medievalism
 Victorian medievalism - diverse and pervasive reproduction
and reinvention of medieval literature, themes, and ideals in
the 19th century. It emerged in many generic forms,
including poetry, prose, retellings of folk legends, paintings,
cartoons, statues, and the architecture (Morris 2009:1).

18. Morris’ medievalism
 Morris believed he had been “born out of his due
time” and despised Victorian society
 He found refuges in the idealized medieval past
 Believed that medieval past held all of the values —
heroism, chivalry, beauty, and love
 His designs for furniture, textiles, wallpaper, and
stained glass all take the form of medieval revivals

19. Morris’ Textiles

20. The Tune of Seven Towers
(1)
No one goes there now:
For what is left to fetch away
From the desolate battlements all
arow,
And the lead roof heavy and grey?
'Therefore,' said fair Yoland of the
flowers,
'This is the tune of Seven Towers.’
No one walks there now;
Except in the white moonlight
The white ghosts walk in a row;
If one could see it, an awful sight,
— 'Listen!' said fair Yoland of the
flowers,
'This is the tune of Seven Towers.'
But none can see them now,
Though they sit by the side of the
moat,
Feet half in the water, there in a row,
Long hair in the wind afloat.
'Therefore,' said fair Yoland of the flowers
'This is the tune of Seven Towers.'
If any will go to it now,
He must go to it all
alone,
Its gates will not open to any row
Of glittering spears — will you go
alone?
'Listen!' said fair Yoland of the flowers,
'This is the tune of Seven Towers.'

21. The Tune of Seven Towers
(2)
By my love go there now,
To fetch me my coif away,
My coif and my kirtle, with pearls arow,
Oliver, go to-day!
'Therefore,' said fair Yoland of the
flowers,
'This is the tune of Seven
Towers.'
I am unhappy now,
I cannot tell you why;
If you go, the priests and I in a row
Will pray that you may not die.
'Listen I' said fair Yoland of the flowers,
'This is the tune of Seven Towers.'
If you will go for me now,
I will kiss your mouth at last;
[She sayeth inwardly.]
(The graves stand grey in a row,)
Oliver, hold me
fast!
'Therefore,' said fair Yoland of the
flowers,
'This is the tune of Seven Towers.’
(1858)

22. The Poem
 Poem – on the edge between confusion and
befuddlement
 Seven towers, seven stanzas, seven refrains in two
varieties
 The poem draws from a painting of the same name
by Rossetti
(McCann 2008)

23. Critical Reading (1)
 Two figures – Yoland and Oliver
 Yoland is about to send her lover on a fatal quest to a
haunted castle
 Her actions remain unmotivated and her behavior is a
curious blend of love and cajolery
 Offering him a kiss as his guerdon, she sends him to his
death
(Silver 1982)

24. Critical Reading (2)
 Female narrator - strangely unreliable and appears
conspicuously selfish
 This abandoned battlefield, probably of a castle and its
surrounding area, is now haunted
 The narrator asks Oliver to enter this place, for a rather
peculiar reason
 Oliver is a fairly new suitor, or at least a rather
unsuccessful one
(Bocher 2004)

25. Conclusions
 both painting and the poem related historically:
 written at the same period
 Morris was the owner of the picture
 both related thematically:
 refer to medievalist tradition
 melancholic, sad and mysterious
 Interpretations differ:
 symbols in Rossetti’s painting reveal the absence of lover
 Morris’ understands that the lover sits next to girl and is sent to
death

26. THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION!
Dante Gabriel Rossetti,
‘The Wedding of St. George and
Princess Sabra’, 1857.

27. References
BBC 4. 2013. The Pre-Raphaelites [WWW] BBC 4. Available from:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QMQmccid3Y&list=PL09A91D
95327F148A [Accessed 17/04/2014].
Bocher, J. 2004. The Unreliable Narrator in William Morris’s “The
Tune of Seven Towers” from 151, English and History of Art. Brown
University. Available from
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/morris/bocher10.html
[Accessed on 22/04/2014].
McCann, P. 2008. Misdirection in “The Tune of Seven Towers” from
151 English and History of Art. Brown University. Available from: :
http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/morris/polm.html [Accessed on
22/04/2014].

28. Silver, C. 1982. The Romance of William Morris. Ohio:
Ohio University Press. pp. 40-42, 45-46.
Sizeranne de la, R. 2008. The Pre-Raphaelites. New
York: Parkstone Press International.
Tate. 2004. The Tune of the Seven Towers [WWW] Tate.
Available from:
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/rossetti-the-tune-of-
the-seven-towers-n03059 [Accessed 17/04/2014].

29. The Rossetti Archive. 2008. The Tune of Seven Towers
[WWW] The Rossetti Archive. Available from:
http://www.rossettiarchive.org/docs/s92.raw.html [Accessed
17/04/2014].
The Tate Gallery. 1987. The Pre-Raphaelites. London:
Penguin Books/Tate Gallery
The University of Texas at Austin. 2014. Scallop Shell
Symbolism [WWW] The University of Texas at Austin.
Available from:
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~bump/images/arch/shells/Shells
ymbolism.htm[Accessed 17/04/2014]