Once for All by Christina Georgina Rossetti
Margaret welcomes a fresh rose and the return of flowers in spring, then discovers unmelted snow in a shaded garden nook. She ends by declaring that winter's harm is final and love is only one.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Sonnet, Lyric Poetry · 188 words
First lines
(Margaret.)
I said: This is a beautiful fresh rose. / I said: I will delight me with its scent, / Will watch its lovely curve of languishment, / Will watch its leaves unclose, its heart unclose. / I said: Old Earth has put away her snows, / All living things make merry to their bent, / A flower is come for every flower that went / In autumn; the sun glows, the south wind blows. / So walking in a garden of delight / I came upon one sheltered shadowed nook / Where broad leaf shadows veiled the day with night, / And there lay snow unmelted by the sun: -- / I answered: Take who will the path I took, / Winter nips once for all; love is but one.
What this Textopian page supports
Once for All is listed on Textopian as a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Sonnet, Lyric Poetry
- Length: 188 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Once for All by Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
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Genres
- Sonnet — Fourteen rhymed lines turn from a rose and spring's renewal to sheltered snow and a closing declaration about love.
- Lyric Poetry — Margaret's first-person voice moves from anticipated pleasure in a rose to a troubled reflection prompted by lingering snow.
Tags
love · spring · winter · roses · sonnets