In an Artist's Studio Essay Questions

Can this sonnet be interpreted as a criticism of the Pre-Raphaelite artistic movement? Why or why not?

Yes, the poem contains clear criticism of the notion that Pre-Raphaelite art depicts (or ought to depict) things or people exactly as they are. This idea is most explicitly criticized in the last six lines of the sonnet, where we see that there is a large gap between the artist's fantasy (on the canvas) and the feelings or emotions of the human being who poses for the pictures. The artist has trapped himself in an endless cycle of re-presenting the woman of his desire, limited by his own perception, or in this case obsession. He paints the product of his own imagination, dream, or desire because it is the most salient part of his subjective reality. No matter how many times he paints the model, he does not paint an image of her, but an image of his fantasy of her. Overall, the poem suggests that the notion that artists paint things or people "as they are" ought to be questioned.

Compare and contrast the characters of the speaker and the artist.

Both the speaker and the artist are similar because they possess some form of aesthetic appreciation, or theory of art. The artist finds (and obsesses over) beauty in the woman he loves, and paints it. The speaker, on the other hand, finds beauty in art and the artist’s representation of the woman. These two characters differ however in the modal value that they attribute to art. While the speaker sees art as an object for viewing and analyzing, it seems that the artist uses art as a form of catharsis. His art is an expression of his desire and love, but a desire and love that is equally autoerotic, feeding his desire even more. In this way, both the artist and speaker believe that art conveys beauty; however the artist engages art actively, while the speaker remains a passive observer.

Does the sonnet make a compelling argument for the predatory nature of art? Why or why not?

The speaker depicts the artist feeding emotionally from the face of his beloved, becoming stronger and more prolific even as her health and well-being appear to wane. This is vampiric imagery, which by definition is predatory. Furthermore, he controls the image of her that appears not just on one canvas but on multiple canvases throughout his studio. He controls her costume, her pose, the external lighting, and every aspect of the scene. Indeed, her essences becomes "hidden" behind a screen. It is the artist’s hand that captures not only the physical aspects of the woman’s appearance, but also the emotional content written on her face and in her eyes. If by chance the reality fails to live up to the painter's expectations, he does not observe, depict, or interact with the woman in front of her. Instead, he paints what he feels, superimposing his version of reality on her physical shape. In this way, the woman stands as prey to the artist’s desires.

This poem is a sonnet in the Petrarchan tradition. Discuss the structure of the poem, with emphasis on line structure, and show how the focus or perspective of the structure changes after the "turn."

Petrarch and his successors composed sonnets that contained two distinct halves. The first portion of the sonnet was a set of eight lines of iambic pentameter, generally with the rhyme structure ABBA ABBA. The remaining half of the sonnet contained six lines in one of a handful of formats. This particular poem has a structure CDCDCD. Between the first part and the second part of the sonnet is the "turn," which signals a change in perspective, new information, or a shift of some kind. The turn is often signaled by the word "but," "yet," "however," or some other means of letting the reader know that new and possibly contradictory information is on the way. However, by the 19th century, writers no longer had to explicitly signal the turn, because the sonnet structure had been so thoroughly absorbed by readers of poetry that the explicit signal was redundant.

The focus of the poem shifts after the turn to de-emphasize the model and the multiple pictures of her and to emphasize what's real: a man and a woman in a studio, with him painting and her posing. Yet the product of this painting, and possibly many or even all of the others, is not a reflection of reality but of an idealized image full of love, hope, and other things that do not necessarily exist in the present day. Perhaps they never have. Although the artist is being strengthened by the interaction, the reader eventually comes to wonder what (if anything) is in it for the model.

How does Rossetti’s use of anaphora help clarify the sonnet’s form?

Rossetti’s use of anaphora works as a supplement to the already repetitive nature of the Petrarchan sonnet. Already, without the first word anaphora of “One,” “A,” “and “Not,” the Petrarchan sonnet’s ABBA ABBA CDCDCD rhyme scheme and strict iambic pentameter can be repetitious. The anaphora serves to underline this effect, and highlight the repetitive nature of the artist’s paintings. By using repeating words, rhymes, and metrical units, Rossetti creates a poem that generates the effect it discusses, namely, an artist obsessed with creating the same representation again and again.