Two Rossetti Sonnets Commemorating a Momentous Occasion

Two Rossetti Sonnets Commemorating a Momentous Occasion

Lorraine Janzen Kooistra

A Sonnet is a moment's monument,—

Memorial from the soul's eternity

To one dead deathless hour. Look that it be,

Whether for lustral rite or dire portent,

Of its own intricate fulness reverent:

Carve it in ivory or in ebony,

As Day or Night prevail; and let Time see

Its flowering crest impearled and orient.

The Bitter Cry of the Outcasts

In the fall of 1883, a pamphlet called, The Bitter Cry of the Outcast London: An Inquiry into the Conditions of the Abject Poor, was published describing the deplorable sanitary conditions of the poor. A few days later, The Pall Mall Gazette picked up the story and wrote an article called “Is it Not Time?” containing a one-page condensed version of the pamphlet.