Social Commentaries
Sonnet Reversed
From The Collected Poems of Rupert Brooke (1915)
Hand trembling towards hand; the amazing lights
Of heart and eye. They stood on supreme heights.
Ah, the delirious weeks of honeymoon!
Soon they returned, and after strange adventures,
Settled at Balham by the end of June,
Their money was in Can. Pacs. B. Debentures,
And in Antofagastas. Still he went
Cityward daily; still she did abide
At home. And both were really quite content
With work and social pleasures. Then they died.
They left three children (beside George, who drank);
The eldest Jane, who married Mr. Bell,
William, the head-clerk in the County Bank,
And Henry, a stock-broker, doing well.
Codex Note
A comic anti-sonnet that begins with the couple on 'supreme heights' and ends with Henry as a stock-broker 'doing well'. Dated Lulworth, 1 January 1911.
Cite this poem
MLA
Brooke, Rupert. “Sonnet Reversed.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/brooke/23/.
Chicago
Brooke, Rupert. “Sonnet Reversed.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/brooke/23/.
Read this poem with the Codex →