Too often has the sonnet's lofty feat Condemned itself to tragedy's emprise; As though unwinking death and the demise Of kings were the full compass of its beat. As it has been so shall it be tomorrow, Our futile lives are ringed around with doom; But sadder poets aggravate the gloom With the deep accents of a duller sorrow. Even as widows wink despite their weeds, Let us perceive how with a lighter measure Unfaltering, the sonnet yields new treasure And lifts a waking magic in the reeds, As we may teach it for its own acquittal To sway and skip and even dance a little. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A DIRGE (1) by FELICIA DOROTHEA HEMANS THE TERRIBLE SONNETS: 3 by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS THE LADY AND THE SWINE by MOTHER GOOSE THE SIGN OF THE CROSS by JOHN HENRY NEWMAN GOD SAVE THE NATION! by THEODORE TILTON THE TENT ON THE BEACH: 5. THE CHANGELING by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER INSULTING BEAUTY by JOHN WILMOT SONNET WRITTEN IN THE FALL OF 1914: 4 by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY |