The sonnet is not quoted as one of the finest of the series.

I have placed Mrs. Stowe’s quotation first for an obvious reason; but The Minister’s Wooing was published in 1859, while the sonnet appeared in 1847.


Death is the ocean of immortal rest; ...

Where shines ’mid laughing waves a far-off isle for me

Why fear? The light wind whitens all the brine,

And throws fresh foam upon the marble shores;

Or it may be that strong and strenuous oars

Must force the shallop o’er the hyaline;

But, welcome utter calm or bitter blast,—