Rossetti Archive Textual Transcription
Document Title: The Sonnet (Rosenbach Library second corrected copy)
Author: Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Date of Composition: 1880
Type of Manuscript: fair copy manuscript with corrections
The full Rossetti Archive record for this transcribed document is available.
![Image of page [1]](http://www.rossettiarchive.org/img/1-1880.2.rosenbach.jpg)
Manuscript Addition: 2
Editorial Description: DGR's numeration in the upper right corner
Manuscript Addition: ring to
Editorial Description: At the lower left: DGR's fair pencil variant for the word
“guerdon” in line 11.
- A Sonnet is a moment's monument, —
- Memorial from thy soul's eternity
- To 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 claim rule; and let men see
- Its every flower flowering crest impearled and orient.
- A sonnet is a coin, whose face reveals
- 10Thyself, and its reverse, to whom 'tis due : —
- Whether it guerdon ring to guerdon Life's august appeals;
- Or dower thy service in Love's retinue;
- Or, nigh that wharf where sinks each all labouring breath,
- In Charon's hand palm it pay the toll to Death.
Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Source File:
1-1880.rosenbachms2.rad.xml
Copyright: By permission of The Rosenbach Library