Sonnet XLVII: Broken Music

Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)



The mother will not turn, who thinks she hears
Her nursling's speech first grow articulate;
But breathless with averted eyes elate
She sits, with open lips and open ears,
That it may call her twice. 'Mid doubts and fears
Thus oft my soul has hearkened; till the song,
A central moan for days, at length found tongue,
And the sweet music welled and the sweet tears.
But now, whatever while the soul is fain
To list that wonted murmur, as it were
The speech-bound sea-shell's low importunate strain,—
No breath of song, thy voice alone is there,
O bitterly beloved! and all her gain
Is but the pang of unpermitted prayer.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

34 sec read
84

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBCCDEFGHGIGI
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 616
Words 114
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. more…

All Dante Gabriel Rossetti poems | Dante Gabriel Rossetti Books

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