Carillon Intro

The Carillon: Antwerp and Bruges

Rossetti wrote this poem during his tour of the continent with Holman Hunt from September - October 1849. He mailed a copy -- minus the final stanza -- to James Collinson from Bruges on October 24, 1849, noting: "The song is, of course, quite original; there is in particular a Yankee of the name of Longfellow with whose works it has no affinity." Rossetti alludes to Longfellow's "The Belfry of Bruges", written during his trip to Bruges in 1842 and published in 1845. Rossetti never republished this poem.