The Sea Limits

Dante Gabriel Rossetti 1828 (London) – 1882 (Birchington-on-Sea)



Consider the sea's listless chime;
Time's self it is, made audible -
The murmur of the earth's own shell.
Secret continuance sublime
Is the sea's end: our sight may pass
No furlong further. Since time was,
This sound hath told the lapse of time.

No quiet, which is death's -it hath
The mournfulness of ancient life,
Enduring always at dull strife.
As the world's heart of rest and wrath,
Its painful pulse is in the sands.
Last utterly, the whole sky stands
Grey and not known, along its path.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

29 sec read
121

Quick analysis:

Scheme AXXAXXA BCCBDDB
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 489
Words 91
Stanzas 2
Stanza Lengths 7, 7

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. more…

All Dante Gabriel Rossetti poems | Dante Gabriel Rossetti Books

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