The Soul's Sphere (Delaware draft manuscript)

The Soul's Sphere (Delaware draft manuscript) Dante Gabriel Rossetti The Soul's Sphere DGR 1873 draft manuscript DGR Delaware Art Museum Commentary

Introduction

This is the earliest complete text of the sonnet, with an alternate reading for line 5 and various other revisions.

Textual History: Composition

Textual History: Revision

Production History

Reception History

Iconographic

Printing History

Pictorial

Historical

Literary

Translation

Autobiographical

Bibliographic

X DGR's mark in left margin beside line 5, signaling the alternate reading of the line scripted at the end of the sonnet, at the bottom of the page. Sonnet LXII Notation (probably by DGR) of the 1881 “House of Life” sonnet number in the upper right corner. The Soul's Sphere. Some prisoned moon in steep cloud-fastnesses,— Throned queen and thralled; some dying sun whose pyre Blazed with momentous memorable fire;— Who hath not yearned & fed his heart with these? Who, sleepless, hath not ~~wearied~~ anguished to appease Tragical shadow's realm ~~all~~ of sound & sight Conjectured in the lamentable night? Lo! The soul's sphere of infinite images. What sense shall count them? Whether it forecast The mothrose-winged hours that flutter in the van Of Love's unquestioning unrevealèd span,— Visions of golden futures; : or that last Wild pageant of the accumulated past That clangs & flashes for a drowning man. ________________ Who, dreaming sleepless, hath not toiled to appease