Venus' Looking-Glass
A speaker watches Venus and her court pass with song and dance in spring, with dolphins following and doves circling her, but sees her no more through summer. In autumn, Venus walks amid wheat, and every harvester stops working, laughs, hopes, and feels content.
By Christina Georgina Rossetti · Genre: Sonnet, Mythological Poetry · 169 words
First lines
I marked where lovely Venus and her court / With song and dance and merry laugh went by; / Weightless, their wingless feet seemed made to fly, / Bound from the ground and in mid air to sport. / Left far behind I heard the dolphins snort, / Tracking their goddess with a wistful eye, / Around whose head white doves rose, wheeling high / Or low, and cooed after their tender sort. / All this I saw in spring. Through summer heat / I saw the lovely Queen of Love no more. / But when flushed autumn through the woodlands went / I spied sweet Venus walk amid the wheat: / Whom seeing, every harvester gave o'er / His toil, and laughed and hoped and was content.
What this Textopian page supports
Venus' Looking-Glass 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, Mythological Poetry
- Length: 169 words
- Structure: 1 section, 1 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Venus' Looking-Glass 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 spring procession to summer absence and an autumn encounter among harvesters.
- Mythological Poetry — Venus appears as the goddess and Queen of Love, surrounded by her court, dolphins, and doves.
Tags
classical mythology · seasonal change · harvest · joy · sonnet