| Samuel Kettell, ed. Specimens of American Poetry. 1829. | | | | Sonnet Vindicatory | | By William Croswell |
| | | NUNS fret not at their Convent’s narrow room; | |
| And Hermits are contented with their cells; | |
| And Students with their pensive citadels; | |
| Maids at the wheel, the Weaver at his loom, | |
| Sit blithe and happy; Bees that soar for bloom, | 5 |
| High as the highest peak of Furness Fells, | |
| Will murmur by the hour in fox-glove bells. | |
| In truth the prison unto which we doom | |
| Ourselves, no prison is; and hence to me, | |
| In sundry moods, ’t was pastime to be bound | 10 |
| Within the sonnet’s scanty plot of ground; | |
| Pleased if some souls (for such there needs must be) | |
| Who ’ve felt the weight of too much liberty, | |
| Should find short solace there, as I have found. | | | | |
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