What is a sonnet? 'T is the pearly shell That murmurs of the far-off murmuring sea; A precious jewel carved most curiously; It is a little picture painted well. What is a sonnet? 'T is the tear that fell From a great poet's hidden ecstasy; A two-edged sword, a star, a song, -- ah me! Sometimes a heavy-tolling funeral bell. This was the flame that shook with Dante's breath, The solemn organ whereon Milton played, And the clear glass where Shakespeare's shadow falls: A sea this is, -- beware who ventureth! For like a fiord the narrow floor is laid Mid-ocean deep to the sheer mountain walls. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...I LOOKED FOR LIFE AND DID A SHADOW SEE by JAMES GALVIN EROS (1) by RALPH WALDO EMERSON SONNET: AUTUMN by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE BIGLOW PAPERS. 2D SERIES: 2. JONATHAN TO JOHN by JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL SUNSET WINGS by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI MNEMOSYNE by TRUMBULL STICKNEY SONNET WRITTEN IN THE FALL OF 1914: 3 by GEORGE EDWARD WOODBERRY |