The Sonnet (Rosenbach Library first corrected copy)Dante Gabriel Rossetti1By permission of The Rosenbach LibraryThe SonnetDante Gabriel Rossetti1880fair copy manuscript with corrections1 small leafRosenbach Library4 7/16 x 7 1/8 in.This sonnet (as well as seven others) is written on paper identical with the paper carrying the Rosenbach Library's fair copy of “Transfigured Life”.
Commentary
Introduction
This is one of the two earliest fair copies of the poem. The other is housed in the Rosenbach Library as well.
Textual History: Composition
Textual History: Revision
Production History
Reception History
Iconographic
Printing History
Pictorial
Historical
Literary
Translation
Autobiographical
Bibliographic
DGR left alternate readings in both line 11 and 12.1DGR's numeration in the upper right cornerThe SonnetA Sonnet is a moment's monument, —Memorial from thy soul's eternityTo one dead deathless hour. Look that it be,Whether for lustral rite or dire portent,Of its own intricate fulness reverent:Carve it in ivory or ebony,As Day or Night may rule it; and decreeIts every flower silvernpearl-wroughtimpearled and orient.A sonnet is a coin, whose face revealsThyself, and its reverse, to whom 'tis due : —Whether it guerdon Life's vociferous tumultuousimpetuous wheels;Or dower thy yoke suit in Love's sworn retinue;Or, nigh that wharf where spirits castshed their sheath,In Charon's hand it pay the toll to Death.