Rossetti Archive Textual Transcription
Document Title: The Sonnet (Rosenbach Library first 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/1-1880.1.rosenbach.jpg)
Note: DGR left alternate readings in both line 11 and 12.
Manuscript Addition: 1
Editorial Description: DGR's numeration in the upper right corner
- 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 may rule it; and decree
- Its every flower silvern pearl-wrought impearled and orient.
- A sonnet is a coin, whose face reveals
- 10Thyself, and its reverse, to whom 'tis due : —
- Whether it guerdon Life's vociferous tumultuous impetuous wheels;
- Or dower thy yoke suit in Love's sworn retinue;
- Or, nigh that wharf where spirits cast shed their sheath,
- In Charon's hand it pay the toll to Death.
Electronic Archive Edition: 1
Source File:
1-1880.rosenbachms.rad.xml
Copyright: By permission of The Rosenbach Library