Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Mary's Girlhood

The Girlhood of Mary, Virgin

wept till sunshine

This is the morning of the Annuncation. She knows something has changed before Gabriel appears—the "fullness of the time" is a phrase from Galatians 4:4.

and
"Ecce Ancilla Domini!"

Ecce Ancilla Domini

Latin for "Behold the handmaid of the Lord"—Mary's response to Gabriel in Luke 1:38. Rossetti painted this scene too; the title names his second painting.

MARY'S GIRLHOOD

Nazareth of Galilee

Rossetti uses the biblical phrase to place us in Luke's Gospel—the Annunciation story he's painting twice, once in girlhood, once in the moment itself.

I
THIS is that blessed Mary, pre-elect
God's Virgin. Gone is a great while, and she
Dwelt young in Nazareth of Galilee.

Nazareth of Galilee

Rossetti uses the biblical phrase to place us in Luke's Gospel—the Annunciation story he's painting twice, once in girlhood, once in the moment itself.

Unto God's will she brought devout respect,
Profound simplicity of intellect,
And supreme patience. From her mother's knee
Faithful and hopeful; wise in charity;
Strong in grave peace; in pity circumspect.
So held she through her girlhood; as it were

angel-watered lily

The lily is Mary's symbol in art (purity), but "angel-watered" anticipates Gabriel's arrival—angels are already tending her without her knowing.

An angel-watered lily, that near God
Grows and is quiet. Till, one dawn at home
She woke in her white bed, and had no fear
At all,—yet wept till sunshine, and felt awed:

wept till sunshine

This is the morning of the Annuncation. She knows something has changed before Gabriel appears—the "fullness of the time" is a phrase from Galatians 4:4.

Because the fullness of the time was come.
II
These are the symbols. On that cloth of red

Tripoint: perfect each

The Trinity symbol has three equal points, but the second (Christ) is incomplete because he hasn't been born yet. Rossetti is describing his own painting's symbolism.

I' the centre is the Tripoint: perfect each,
Except the second of its points, to teach
That Christ is not yet born. The books—whose head
Is golden Charity, as Paul hath said—

golden Charity

1 Corinthians 13:13—"the greatest of these is charity." The books are virtues stacked with charity on top, supporting the lily of innocence.

Those virtues are wherein the soul is rich:
Therefore on them the lily standeth, which
Is Innocence, being interpreted.
The seven-thorn'd briar and the palm seven-leaved
Are her great sorrow and her great reward.
Until the end be full, the Holy One
Abides without. She soon shall have achieved
Her perfect purity: yea, God the Lord
Shall soon vouchsafe His Son to be her Son.

Ecce Ancilla Domini

Latin for "Behold the handmaid of the Lord"—Mary's response to Gabriel in Luke 1:38. Rossetti painted this scene too; the title names his second painting.

"Ecce Ancilla Domini!"
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

Rossetti's Two Paintings

This poem is an ekphrastic diptych—Rossetti wrote it to accompany two paintings he made of Mary. The first, *The Girlhood of Mary Virgin* (1849), shows teenage Mary embroidering a lily with her mother Anne, surrounded by symbolic objects. The second, *Ecce Ancilla Domini!* (1850), depicts the Annunciation itself—Gabriel appearing to Mary in her white bedroom.

The poem mirrors this structure. Sonnet I describes Mary's character before the angel comes. Sonnet II walks through the symbols in the first painting like a museum label, explaining what each object means. The final title, "Ecce Ancilla Domini!" ("Behold the handmaid of the Lord"), points to the second painting—Mary's submission to God's plan.

Rossetti was 19 when he painted and wrote these. They were his first major works, created when he co-founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a group rejecting slick Victorian art in favor of medieval sincerity and symbolic detail. The poem's job is to teach viewers how to read the paintings' symbolism—every object is a theological argument.

Reading the Symbols

Sonnet II is a decoder key. Rossetti lists objects from his painting and explains their meanings, assuming you're standing in front of the canvas.

The Tripoint is a triangle representing the Trinity—Father, Son, Holy Spirit. But "the second of its points" (Christ) is incomplete because he hasn't been conceived yet. This is the moment *before* the Annunciation. The books are theological virtues, stacked with "golden Charity" on top per Paul's ranking in 1 Corinthians. The lily stands on the books because innocence grows from virtue.

The seven-thorned briar = the seven sorrows of Mary (Simeon's prophecy, the flight to Egypt, losing Jesus in the temple, meeting him on the road to Calvary, the crucifixion, the deposition, the entombment). The palm seven-leaved = her seven joys (the Annunciation, Visitation, Nativity, Adoration of the Magi, Finding in the Temple, Resurrection, Assumption). Medieval theology loved this symmetry—seven sorrows, seven joys.

The final lines shift from symbols to event: "She soon shall have achieved / Her perfect purity: yea, God the Lord / Shall soon vouchsafe His Son to be her Son." The painting is frozen before the Annunciation, but the poem knows what's coming. The paradox in "His Son to be her Son" is the theological heart—God becoming human through a teenage girl's consent.