As WMR's 1911
note to this sonnet remarks, this is one of DGR's very few directly political poems.
It is also notable for the entirely positive view it takes of the epochal events of the
“year of revolutions”, 1848. His other political poems tend to be
either skeptical or
darkly mordant—for example, “On Refusal of
Aid Between Nations” (written a year later).
This collection contains 5 texts and images, including:
The fair copy at Yale
Scholarly Commentary
Introduction
As WMR's 1911 note to this sonnet remarks, this is one of DGR's very few directly political poems. It is also notable for the entirely positive view it takes of the epochal events of the “year of revolutions”, 1848. His other political poems tend to be either skeptical or darkly mordant—for example, “On Refusal of Aid Between Nations” (written a year later).
Textual History: Composition
Three manuscripts are known: a draft at Princeton; a corrected copy at Texas; and a fair copy at Yale.
Printing History
First published by WMR in his collected edition of 1886, and kept thereafter.