William Bell Scott transcribed both sonnets in 1853 from DGR's manuscripts. The poems
represented an early style in DGR's writing, as Scott points out—examples of “the spirit
that had made him choose entering Church, was addressed to his sister Maria; the second, on leaving Church, to
Christina”. In a footnote Scott adds that “They were what he considered juvenile things at that day, 1853, and I
confess to being surprised to see one of them printed among his latest efforts in 1881. The two sonnets taken in connection, and
as characteristic of his early time, 1848, as they were written, are very interesting” (see
Scott, Autobiographical
Notes
Sharp observes that the sonnets represent “the reaction experienced in
finding a soulless service in the building wherein were expected to be found ‘Silence, and
sudden dimness, and deep prayer, And faces of crowned angels all about’”
(DGR. A Record and a
Study
WMR dates the sonnets 1853
and William Bell Scott (see above) says they were written in 1848, although
The first of the two sonnets was printed in the 1881 "Ballads and Sonnets
The Century Magazine
Autobiographical Notes