Boatmen and Siren

Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 - 1882

Summary

To the right there are two men in a small wooden boat. One of the men is attempting to physically restrain the other from reaching out to the woman who is in the other boat. The woman's long hair streams out as her boat speeds by. Underneath the drawing, Rossetti has written 'Lo marinaio oblia, che passa per tal via'. This can be translated as ' the mariner forgets, passing through such ways'. These are two lines, slightly misquoted, from Jacopo da Lentino's canzone, 'Membrando ciò, che Amore', which Rossetti translates as “At the end of his hope” in his book 'The Early Italian Poets'.