Behold a Shaking by Christina Georgina Rossetti
The speaker asks whether resurrection and judgment are more dreadful for humanity together or for each person, and prays for all to reach Heaven. The second sonnet describes the blessed in Paradise and the weary on earth as one flock belonging to God, finding solace in prayer and urging faith and patience as death leads to life.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Christian Devotional Poetry, Sonnet · 373 words
First lines
1.
Man rising to the doom that shall not err, -- / Which hath most dread: the arouse of all or each; / All kindreds of all nations of all speech, / Or one by one of _him_ and _him_ and _her_? / While dust reanimate begins to stir / Here, there, beyond, beyond, reach beyond reach; / While every wave refashions on the beach / Alive or dead-in-life some seafarer. / Now meeting doth not join or parting part; / True meeting and true parting wait till then, / When whoso meet are joined for evermore, / Face answering face and heart at rest in heart: -- / God bring us all rejoicing to the shore / Of happy Heaven, His sheep home to the pen.
Genres
- Christian Devotional Poetry — The speaker prays that God bring everyone to Heaven and presents prayer, faith and patience as sustenance for His earthly flock.
- Sonnet — Two fourteen-line poems with patterned rhyme consider resurrection, judgment and the passage from death to life.
Tags
resurrection · divine judgment · heaven · prayer · faith · death and eternal life
What this Textopian page supports
Behold a Shaking is listed on Textopian as a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, dated Date unknown.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Christian Devotional Poetry, Sonnet
- Length: 373 words
- Structure: 1 section, 4 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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- Work identity for Behold a Shaking by Christina Georgina Rossetti
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