Poem by Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton

Sonnet 1. SWEET marble I didst thou merely represent

     ON SEEING THE BUST OF 
     THE YOUNG PRINCESS DE MONTFORT
(In the studio of Bartolini, at Florence).

SWEET marble I didst thou merely represent,
In lieu of her on whom our glances rest,
Some common loveliness,--we were content,
As with a modell'd beauty, well express'd;
But, by the very skill which makes thee seem
So like HER bright and intellectual face,
The heart is led unsatisfied to dream;
For sculpture cannot give the breathing grace,
The light which plays beneath that shadowy brow,
Like sunshine on the fountains of the south,--
The blush which tints that cheek with roseate glow,--
The smile which hovers round that angel-mouth:
No! such the form o'er which Pygmalion sigh'd--
Too fair to be complete while SOUL was still denied!

1. The Chapel Royal St. James’s, on the 10th February, 1840
2. Sonnet 5. BECAUSE I know that there is that in me
3. Sonnet 13. LITTLE they think, the giddy and the vain
4. The Fever-Dream
5. Sonnet 9. WHEN our young Queen put on her rightful crown

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