| Higginson and Bigelow, comps. American Sonnets. 1891. | | | | The Sonnet | | By Richard Watson Gilder (1844–1909) |
| | | 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 | 5 |
| From a great poet’s hidden ecstasy; | |
| 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, | 10 |
| 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 | |
| Mid-ocean deep to the sheer mountain walls. | | | | |
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