Resurgam by Christina Georgina Rossetti
A climber follows the last sunlight upward, winning his race with Time with only Grace, Will, and Love remaining. He stumbles on the darkened summit, breathless and unaware that he has reached the highest peak, where the returning sun will find him.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Sonnet, Allegorical Poetry · 169 words
First lines
From depth to height, from height to loftier height, / The climber sets his foot and sets his face, / Tracks lingering sunbeams to their halting-place, / And counts the last pulsations of the light. / Strenuous thro' day and unsurprised by night / He runs a race with Time, and wins the race, / Emptied and stripped of all save only Grace, / Will, Love, -- a threefold panoply of might. / Darkness descends for light he toiled to seek; / He stumbles on the darkened mountain-head, / Left breathless in the unbreathable thin air, / Made freeman of the living and the dead, -- / He wots not he has topped the topmost peak, / But the returning sun will find him there.
Genres
- Sonnet — Fourteen rhymed lines turn from the climber's strenuous ascent to his unrecognized arrival at the summit.
- Allegorical Poetry — The ascent becomes a race with Time, sustained by Grace, Will, and Love, and culminates in freedom among the living and the dead.
Tags
ascent · mountains · sunlight · darkness · perseverance · grace
What this Textopian page supports
Resurgam 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: Sonnet, Allegorical Poetry
- Length: 169 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Difficult (10th-12th Grade)
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- Work identity for Resurgam by Christina Georgina Rossetti
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