Before

First publ. M & W, 17 Nov. 1855, with its companion-poem After, with which it was repr. 1863 (when they were placed in Lyrics: see Appendix A, p. 464), 1868, 1880, 1888. The MS is not extant; a proof of M & W is in the Huntington Library, with some corrections by B., but none for either of these poems; a copy of M&W, also in the Huntington, has notes (not by B.) of numerous changes between the proofs and the first edition, but records only one minor variant in Before 17. The date of composition of the two poems is unknown, but we suggest the period following B.’s disagreement with EBB. on the subject of duelling in Apr. 1846. In a letter of 4 Apr., B. mentioned seeing a report in the Athenaeum of a trial in France arising out of a duel (see 11. 5–28n.), and commented: ‘Being fired at by a Duellist is a little better, I think also, than being struck on the face by some ruffian’ (LK 588). At their meeting on 6 Apr. he defended the practice of duelling; EBB. wrote on 7 Apr.: ‘Indeed I thought you as wrong as possible‥ wonderfully wrong on such a subject, for you‥ who, only a day or two before, seemed so free from conventional fallacies’ (LK 595). Several phrases in this letter are echoed in the poem. B. replied in a long letter of 8 Apr. (LK 601–6), reiterating his defence and taking a position partly reflected in that of the speaker of Before. EBB. replied on the same day, maintaining her view that duelling was unacceptable under any circumstances; B. wrote on 9 Apr.: ‘all in MY letter was meant to be “read by your light.” I submit, unfeignedly, to you, there as elsewhere. And,—as I said, I think,—I wrote so, precisely because it was never likely to be my own case’ (LK 60S). There were further exchanges in EBB.’s letter of 9 Apr. and B.’s of 10 Apr. (LK609, 611–12), and the matter was probably resolved at their meeting on 11 Apr. A phrase in EBB.’s letter of 12 Apr. may be echoed at 1. 23 of Before.