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Baum, ed., The House of Life, 129-131
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WMR, DGR as Designer and Writer, 212-213
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Baum, ed., The House of Life, 129-131
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WMR, DGR as Designer and Writer, 212-213
Editorial glosses and textual notes are available in a pop-up window. Line numbering reflects the structure of the 1870 First Edition Text.
This collection contains 49 texts and images, including:
1870 First Edition Text
Scholarly Commentary
Introduction
The argument of this sonnet is perhaps clearer in the Poems (1870) text than in the 1881 text—because in the former it comes into the sequence immediately after Sleepless Dreams. The sestet of “Secret Parting” connects directly to the thoughts and ideas of the latter.
Textual History: Composition
Before mid-Autumn 1869 (see WMR, Classified Lists, 7 ); but it would have been written before August 1869, for it is printed in the Penkill Proofs for the 1870 volume.
Two manuscripts survive, both gathered in the Fitzwilliam composite “House of Life” manuscript: DGR's fair copy and his heavily corrected draft.
Textual History: Revision
DGR altered the third line from its Penkill Proof text, but the sonnet remained stable thereafter.
Printing History
First printed in mid-August 1869 as part of the Penkill Proofs, the sonnet remained in all proof stages and was published in the 1870 Poems and thereafter. It is The House of Life Sonnet XX in the 1870 volume, and Sonnet XLV in 1881.