They Desire a Better Country
The speaker refuses to undo a troubled past, valuing a remembered tearful voice above renewed joys and hopes. Following departed joy toward a distant home, the speaker travels with personified Love through exile, briefly glimpses golden city walls, and hears the voice calling again as darkness returns.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Sonnet, Spiritual Poetry, Allegorical Poetry · 539 words
First lines
I.
I would not if I could undo my past, / Tho' for its sake my future is a blank; / My past for which I have myself to thank, / For all its faults and follies first and last. / I would not cast anew the lot once cast, / Or launch a second ship for one that sank, / Or drug with sweets the bitterness I drank, / Or break by feasting my perpetual fast. / I would not if I could: for much more dear / Is one remembrance than a hundred joys, / More than a thousand hopes in jubilee; / Dearer the music of one tearful voice / That unforgotten calls and calls to me, / "Follow me here, rise up, and follow here."
What this Textopian page supports
They Desire a Better Country 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, Spiritual Poetry, Allegorical Poetry
- Length: 539 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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- Work identity for They Desire a Better Country by Christina Georgina Rossetti
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Sonnet — Three numbered fourteen-line poems develop the refusal to undo the past, a journey with Love, and a fleeting vision of home.
- Spiritual Poetry — The journey toward home in a land of light sustains hope through exile, weeping, fear, and darkness.
- Allegorical Poetry — Love walks as a veiled companion, while a desert journey, golden key, and distant city give longing a physical shape.
Tags
remembrance · spiritual longing · exile · personified love · hope and fear · sonnets