The House of Life is Dante Gabriel Rossetti's collection of autobiographical sonnets. In this volume he records the changes of his life, from youth to aging. He meets a woman and falls passionately in love with her, marrying her eventually. This character is based upon his own wife Elizabeth Siddal. Although they enjoy several years of bliss, they cannot last. His wife dies unexpectedly, leaving Rossetti angry and lonely. He works through his grief in order to find contentment again. Then he pursues a new woman, based upon the woman he had an affair with in his real life -- Jane Morris.
Comparing his new flame to his wife, Rossetti encounters a sort of acceptance. He struggles to accept her at first because he projects his intimacy from his marriage onto her and experiences disappointment when she both resents the projection and fails to fulfill his expectations. By cultivating a new intimacy Rossetti once more encounters passion in his relationship. Alongside his grieving process, he has learned to embrace change. In this the ultimate test is to welcome a new woman as she is, without forcing her to fulfill a role which has already been taken away.
Rossetti's sonnets span the course of several decades. It is a massive undertaking. Consequently his personal observations reflect a profound development of maturity. From the first poem to the last Rossetti is learning. His exuberant passion for sensuality and adventure quickly melts into retributive anger and despair after his wife's untimely death. These feelings eventually mature into a better acceptance of temporality and his own limited power. Rossetti finds consolation in his second relationship by learning to embrace the new and to relinquish his claims to stasis.
