Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LATER LIFE: A DOUBLE SONNET OF SONNETS, 13, by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI



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LATER LIFE: A DOUBLE SONNET OF SONNETS, 13, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Shame is a shadow cast by sin: yet shame
Last Line: Man to himself, -- then sets him up on high.
Alternate Author Name(s): Alleyne, Ellen; Rossetti, Christina
Subject(s): Shame


Shame is a shadow cast by sin: yet shame
Itself may be a glory and a grace,
Refashioning the sin-disfashioned face;
A nobler bruit than hollow-sounded fame,
A new-lit lustre on a tarnished name,
One virtue pent within an evil place,
Strength for the fight, and swiftness for the race,
A stinging salve, a life-requickening flame.
A slave so searching we may scarcely live,
A flame so fierce it seems that we must die,
An actual cautery thrust into the heart:
Nevertheless, men die not of such smart;
And shame gives back what nothing else can give,
Man to himself, -- then sets him up on high.





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