| Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900. |
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| 908. The Sonnet |
| | | By Richard Watson Gilder |
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| 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 fiord the narrow floor is laid | |
| Mid-ocean deep to the sheer mountain walls. | |
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