Pre-Raphaelite artist and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s first published poem, “The Card-Dealer,” was based on a painting by Theodore von Holst (1810-1844) called “The Wish” or “The Fortune-Teller” (1840). The poem, which epitomized Rossetti’s fascination with the theme of the femme fatale, was inspired by the painting that he described as being of “a beautiful woman, richly dressed, who is sitting at a lamp-lit table, dealing out cards, with a peculiar fixedness of expression.” In his poem, the woman (Death?, La Morte, in Rossetti’s Italian) plays with men as she plays with the cards, which, we are told, represent the heart that craves the more it feeds, the diamond that makes even the base seem brave, the club that smites, and the spade that digs a grave.
“The Card-Dealer” (1852; revised 1870)
by Dante Gabriel RossettiCould you not drink her gaze like wine?
Yet though its splendour swoon
Into the silence languidly
As a tune into a tune,
Those eyes unravel the coiled night
And know the stars at noon.The gold that’s heaped beside her hand,
In truth rich prize it were;
And rich the dreams that wreathe her brows
With magic stillness there;
And he were rich who should unwind
That woven golden hair.Around her, where she sits, the dance
Now breathes its eager heat;
And not more lightly or more true
Fall there the dancers’ feet
Than fall her cards on the bright board
As ’twere an heart that beat.Her fingers let them softly through,
Smooth polished silent things;
And each one as it falls reflects
In swift light-shadowings,
Blood-red and purple, green and blue,
The great eyes of her rings.Whom plays she with? With thee, who lov’st
Those gems upon her hand;
With me, who search her secret brows;
With all men, bless’d or bann’d.
We play together, she and we,
Within a vain strange land:A land without any order,—
Day even as night, (one saith,)—
Where who lieth down ariseth not
Nor the sleeper awakeneth;
A land of darkness as darkness itself
And of the shadow of death.What be her cards, you ask? Even these:—
The heart, that doth but crave
More, having fed; the diamond,
Skilled to make base seem brave;
The club, for smiting in the dark;
The spade, to dig a grave.And do you ask what game she plays?
With me ’tis lost or won;
With thee it is playing still; with him
It is not well begun;
But ’tis a game she plays with all
Beneath the sway o’ the sun.Thou seest the card that falls,—she knows
The card that followeth:
Her game in thy tongue is called Life,
As ebbs thy daily breath:
When she shall speak, thou’lt learn her tongue
And know she calls it Death.
Read more about the poem and the painting here.
18 comments
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March 30, 2009 at 10:51 am
Le Mare
It’s a beautiful painting and beautoful poem – they really do go together!
April 9, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Nicky
Mary,
I have had that picture in my computer forever and all I could recall was it was something like fortune teller and by Rosetti…and could never find it…well duh, I had the artist mixed up with the poet. You rock!
April 21, 2009 at 7:07 am
Tarot
Very very Nice site. Hello and congratulations from Spain
June 21, 2009 at 7:34 pm
Zora
Thanks for sharing that poem. It has a beautiful flow and, of course, subject matter.
Madame Zora
http://www.thewhatbox.com
July 16, 2010 at 6:45 pm
meijimari
A student of Rosetti’s painted a variant of the this female-fortune-teller with cards–if you follow the link, there’s an interesting image painted similar to this original one. In the image to this link, she is holding cards in her hands and there is a man behind this fortune-teller pointing to the cards she is dealing out.
http://www.leicestergalleries.com/art-and-antiques/detail/15328
Fascinating subject–I thought of this Theodore von Holst card-player image and Rosetti poetic post when I happened on the linked image.
Hope it’s of interest.
July 16, 2010 at 7:41 pm
mkg
Meijimari – Thank you so much for the image. It’s really intriguing.
August 6, 2010 at 2:20 pm
แปลภาษา
Sweet site, I hadn’t noticed marygreer.wordpress.com before in my searches! Keep up the great work!
September 20, 2010 at 12:32 pm
download
what a beautiful poem, isn´t it? Liked this website so much. It´s beautiful, useful and makes us read more, what a good thing ! Thanks for the poems.
September 21, 2010 at 7:20 am
Telelista
I have had that picture in my computer forever and all I could recall was it was something like fortune teller and by Rosetti…and could never find it…well duh, I had the artist mixed up with the poet. You rock!
September 21, 2010 at 12:04 pm
meijimari
Rossetti is said to have done caricature playing cards, but the Rosetti archive only has 2 previously showcased in an out of print biography and sometimes I only can find a text listing..
May be able to find a few more in a 1911 magazine reprint, still checking..the whole 52 were in “private collection” and never was able to find out where…
Cartomancy trivia and delights in the hunt…
September 21, 2010 at 12:12 pm
mkg
Mari – You always come up with such wonderful trivia. Thank heavens for your curiosity and determination to find the source. Let us know when you find something.
February 4, 2011 at 10:16 am
mkg
More information on the poem is available at the Rossetti Archive:
http://www.rossettiarchive.org/docs/3-1849.raw.html
March 22, 2011 at 1:02 pm
ocameredesupraveghere
Hey guys, nice to be here! I love marygreer.wordpress.com!
March 22, 2011 at 1:17 pm
mkg
Thank you!
April 25, 2011 at 4:32 am
Ethan Zanayed
I do agree with all the ideas you have offered to your post. They’re really convincing and can certainly work. Nonetheless, the posts are too quick for starters. May just you please prolong them a little from next time? Thanks for the post.
April 25, 2011 at 10:39 am
mkg
Ethan –
I’m sorry. I don’t understand what you mean by the posts being ‘too quick.’ Could you please give an example of what you are hoping for.
July 15, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Amanda Rose
I just read this poem in a book of Pre-Raphaelite poetry and came across this site while looking for the poem online. I thought it was a well-written poem, but I wasn’t sure of the story it told, but this was a nice explanation. Thanks 🙂
July 16, 2011 at 10:18 am
mkg
Amanda,
I find the stories behind the arts to add a fascinating dimension to a work, despite the ‘new criticism’ that advocated dealing only with the work itself. When I was in college I studied William Blake in English class and separately in Art, but neither really dealt with the fact that he did both in such an integrated fashion. I felt cheated when I later discovered how integral each was to the other, so I’m afraid I’ve since gone overboard in emphasizing the biography and background to a work.