Poem by Richard Watson Gilder

The Sonnet

(In Answer to a Question)

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 ecstacy; 
    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 fjord the narrow floor is laid 
    Deep as mid-ocean to the sheer mountain walls. 

1. The New Day. Part 4. 17. “He Knows Not the Path of Duty”
2. The New Day. Part 3. 19. Thistle-Down
3. The Celestial Passion. Part 2. 4. Cost
4. The New Day. Part 4. 4. Song (Not from the whole wide world I chose thee)
5. The New Day. Part 4. 7. Song (Years have flown since I knew thee first)

Ella Wilcox The Sonnet ("Alone it stands in Poesy’s fair land")

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