Which writers influenced Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s early reading?

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an omnivorous reader during his youth, engaging with a wide range of romantic and poetic literature. His early reading included the works of William Shakespeare, J.W. von Goethe, Lord Byron, and Sir Walter Scott, as well as various Gothic tales of horror.1

He was particularly fascinated by the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. Additionally, in 1847, Rossetti discovered the 18th-century English painter-poet William Blake after purchasing a volume of his designs and writings. Beyond these influences, he was deeply shaped by his father, Gabriele Rossetti, who instilled in him a lifelong reverence for the works of Dante Alighieri, specifically La vita nuova and The Divine Comedy.12