Sunday, February 7, 2010

Sonnet Sunday: Browning

Today a sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a poet I should pay more attention to.
IX
Can it be right to give what I can give?
To let thee sit beneath the fall of tears
As salt as mine, and hear the sighing years
Re-sighing on my lips renunciative
Through those infrequent smiles which fail to live
For all thy adjurations? O my fears,
That this can scarce be right! We are not peers,
So to be lovers; and I own, and grieve,
That givers of such gifts as mine are, must
Be counted with the ungenerous. Out, alas!
I will not soil thy purple with my dust,
Nor breathe my poison on thy Venice-glass,
Nor give thee any love--which were unjust.
Beloved, I only love thee! let it pass.


As always, feel free to contribute a sonnet you wrote or you love.
Also, I must note that many will see that this poem has a different rhyme scheme than the previous two sonnets posted. This is what is known as a Petrarchan sonnet as opposed to the classic Elizabethan sonnet that Shakespeare is famous for.

No comments:

Post a Comment