| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895. |
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| From “The House of Life: a Sonnet-Sequence.” I. Introductory |
| | | Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–82) |
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| A SONNET is a moment’s monument,— | |
| Memorial from the Soul’s eternity | |
| To one dead, deathless hour. Look that it be, | |
| Whether for lustral rite or dire portent, | |
| Of its own arduous fulness reverent: | 5 |
| Carve it in ivory or in ebony, | |
| As Day or Night may rule; and let Time see | |
| Its flowering crest impearl’d and orient. | |
| A Sonnet is a coin: its face reveals | |
| The soul,—its converse, to what power ’t is due:— | 10 |
| Whether for tribute to the august appeals | |
| Of Life, or dower in Love’s high retinue, | |
| It serve; or, ’mid the dark wharf’s cavernous breath, | |
| In Charon’s palm it pay the toll to Death. | |
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