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Our Mother and Child Reunion
The unfinished Sonnet Sequence
From: Mother and Daughter (1895): a machine-readable transcription
 It is in keeping with the blessed celebration of Mother’s Day that I offer you this Merry Month of May, 2003, a review of quite another stripe. Instead of merely reviewing one sonnet, I have decided to tackle Augusta Weber’s entire “Mother and Daughter” Sonnet sequence, published posthumously in 1895, unfinished as it is, consisting of 27 sonnets all told. Now, of course, such a review cannot pretend to any depth, and can only be synoptic. I shall endeavour to provide a thematic sketch of the overall “feel” of this truly touching and, indeed, unusual sonnet sequence. What we are dealing with here is not a crown of sonnets as one might usually imagine it, but rather a heartfelt and profoundly moving testimonial to the indissoluble love that obtains between Mother and child, in this case, Mrs. Weber’s daughter. A generalized inference may be drawn from the lovely tonality of Motherly love pervading the sequence, and it is this: a Mother’s love, whoever she be and wherever she is truly devoted with all her heart and all her mind and all her soul to her children, is a universal spiritual phenomenon of the rarest and most precious weave. This applies to the Mother-son relationship as much as it does to the Mother-daughter. Whether we be female or male, we can all identify with the amazing spectrum of the finely nuanced sentiments expressed in this most remarkable and unusual of sonnet sequences. I would even go so far as to claim that this sequence is perhaps unique in the entire repertoire of English sonnet literature. What makes these sonnets so immediately appealing to any of us, whether sons or daughters, is that they so faithfully reflect all our fondest memories of the splendour of our own Mother’s love.
And so, without further ado, allow me to introduce you to the single sonnet in the entire sequence which appeals most directly to me (with all due deference to your own preference for the most cherished rose from this profuse garden of delights). Here it is: XXI Hardly in any common tender wise, But she, as when some foreign tongue is heard, Augusta Weber Rossetti says, amongst other things:
Nothing certainly could be more genuine than these Sonnets. A Mother is expressing her love for a Daughter--her reminiscences, anxieties, and hopeful anticipations. The theme is as beautiful and natural a one as any poetess could select, uniting, in the warm clasp of the domestic affections,… passim … There are two British poetesses to one or other of whom the palm is now generally awarded; Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Christina Georgina Rossetti… passim … WM. M. ROSSETTI. LONDON, April 1895 [2] (Italics mine) Suffice it to say that this intimate and touching sonnet has also a special appeal to me, and for this one reason alone: the very first verse struck me right to the core of my being. Yes, our own Mother’s love (there are four of us in our family), however imperfect it may have been for all her humanity, was indeed:
Although my Mother is no longer alive, memories of her abound. And, as this sonnet so poignantly illustrates, here was a mother who did all in her power to encourage:
 Richard Vallance’s Mother (1943) Agnes Watson Vallance Janke (1917-1997)
For she taught us all, from our earliest childhood years, to be independent, free thinkers and actors, though without the slightest doubt, under the aegis of her stern Scottish guidance! Of course, each of us will read through these 27 sonnets, and each of us will discover in that sequence one sonnet in particular that speaks the most vividly to us. It just so happens that this one is my jewel. Closer examination of this remarkable sonnet sequence reveals the following influences and elements which characterize it: 1. Petrarchan Style: Strong Petrarchan and Pre-Raphaelite influences exert themselves in Augusta Weber’s 27 sonnets comprising this sequence: since she resided for some time in Rome, Italy, and probably the majority of these sonnets were composed at that time (although we cannot be sure all were), we note in passing that the vast majority of them are cast in an “English” variant of the Petrarchan style. What can I mean by this? Read on. When we speak of a Petrarchan Sonnet in the “English style”, we notice right away one salient feature: the rhyming scheme must, of necessity, be much more varied and flexible than the historic rhyme scheme commonly employed by the Italian Renaissance sonneteers, most notably Francesco Petrarch himself [3]. It is quite ridiculous to expect any English sonneteer to confine him– or herself to the straightjacket of the historic rhyme scheme (abba abba cdc cdc) of the Petrarchan Sonnet as it was designed for the much more rhyme rich Italian language. Consequently, many English sonneteers who do resort to the Petrarchan form — and here Augusta Weber is no exception — are bound to resort to a rhyme scheme, indeed, any rhyme scheme in keeping with the strictures imposed by English. And they do. Augusta Weber’s sonnets are remarkable for their unusual and often daring rhyme schemes. I note in passing that, in spite of the popular belief that most English language sonnets are Shakespearian or Spenserian in form, such is, alas, not the case. Historically, there have been many more sonnets composed in English as variants on the Petrarchan style than on the Shakespearian, strange as that may seem. Certainly, Augusta Weber was firmly ensconced in the Petrarchan tradition. One salient reason for her choice of sonnet form may simply be attributed to the fact that the “English” Petrarchan Sonnet is so remarkably suited to the highly lyric demands imposed by the expression of motherly love in all its intimacy and nuances. Moreover, Augusta Weber was not along among the Pre-Raphaelite sonneteers, in resorting to the frequent use of the English Petrarchan: Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Christina Rossetti and Dante Gabriel Rossetti all espoused it with similar eagerness. Finally, allow me to leave you with this personal observation on the peculiarly appealing rhyme scheme Weber uses right off the bat in her first sonnet of the series. This rhyme scheme is: abba abba ccdede. Do you not see it, plain as day? The rhyme scheme of the Octave = Abba, Abba, translates from the Hebrew, “Father, Father!” (referring to God the Father). Perhaps I am just reading too much into this. Who knows? But the thought struck me, nevertheless. 2. Imagery:
Augusta Webster’s imagery, at times maternal, at times playful and delightful, is often striking and even astonishing: V Last night the broad blue lightnings flamed the sky;– or this - VI Like aimless birds that, flying on a wind, – or this - VII Scanning her with a narrow near regard. – or this - XVIII Sails at high water with the fair wind fit,– or this - XX She did my bidding, but I more obeyed.– and this - XXII The brook leaps riotous with its life just found, (verse 1) – or this - XXXIII
Birds sing "I love you, love" the whole day through, – and finally - XXVII The summer linnet, by glad yearnings pressed, (Italics mine) 3. A Mother’s Love for her Child: Of course, Augusta also leaves us with the unmistakable aura all the subtle nuances her motherly love brings to bear on her daughter: V How calm she lay in her unconscious grace!– or this - VI Sometimes, as young things will, she vexes me, That first citation, “in her unconscious grace” — how it struck me with its eternal Truth, “right as rain!"; as the wise housewife said in the movie, Matrix. How many of us have indeed witnessed our children sleeping or resting in utter peace, in that aura of unconscious grace that seems at times to inform all children at rest? And yet, even in spite of her daughter’s innate capacity to annoy her to no end (like all children), our poetess is driven in the same sonnet to concede, ultimately: And thus forgiven her love seems newly strong, This only serves to beg the question — who is the greater penitent, the Mother or the child? — or can we not simply leave well enough alone, and let their mutually supportive penitence speak on its own fair terms? In yet another sonnet, Augusta laments, almost aloud, painfully afflicted by the nagging thought, VIII Is their (i.e. children's) Love, Love, or some remembered ghost? And, oh yes, never, never forget a Mother’s jealousy. She knows that someday, and much too soon for her liking, she must lose her daughter to a stranger (the child’s future consort or husband): XIV Yes, I am jealous, as of one now strange Nor can any Mother accept even the remote possibility of her child’s death! For how, she fatefully asks, can any little child, so innocent and so fresh, possibly fall prey to such a foul thing as Death? Why, even her child herself — no, we stand corrected, her daughter — does not even entertain such morbid thoughts. This is not in the child’s nature. Yet, this is what renders these verses so poignant: XV But looking on the dawn that is her face … passim … (and as if to viscerally stress her point) Keep ceaseless radiance. Life is Death begun: It is, after all, our children who leave often leave us with the indelible, albeit deceptive, impression that youthfulness is eternal, though children all to frequently fall under the spell of its telling, sweet influences, so much so in fact that even the Mother forgets she is aging! XVI So she half keeps me as she'd have me be, In spite of all such contemplation of her daughter’s present childhood and innocence, along with the threat of Death, however distant it may seem, nostalgia and regret cannot fail to creep in: XX There's one I miss. A little questioning maid… And this: Dearer she is to-day, dearer and more; On altogether another plane, Augusta Weber evokes the nuanced strange power of a Mother’s intuition of her daughter’s thoughts and emotions, and her daughter’s responsive intuition mirrored back: XXIII The other knows its thought. Or what Mother doesn’t from time to time, even too often for comfort’s sake, reproach herself for not being “Mother enough”? XXIV "You scarcely are a mother, at that rate. Yes, Augusta is honestly self-reproachful, going even so far as to blame herself for having only one child, where other Mothers have three or four or plenty more! Does this sound familiar to any of you, who are Mothers of one child? Yet, for all this, our poetess is ready and willing to recognize this natural feeling for what it is, just that, a passing feeling that comes and goes as any disturbing night breeze must. What’s more, she has the innate maternal courage to let it go! As a result, what she winds up with is a keen sense of justifiable pride in being the Mother of even one child. For, she who is Mother of but one child is not forced to divvy up her love to the demands of several, but can devote all her maternal instincts and energies to loving fully the child she is in fact so greatly blessed with. And this is as it should naturally be: XXV You think that you love each as much as one, (verse 1) (which she follows with this astute observation on mothers who have several children) How should you know who appraise love and divide? (verse 14) Lest we forget: remember that daughters did not pass on their mothers’ names in the late Nineteenth Century! Augusta Weber was acutely aware of this fact. Yet in no wise did this affect the quality and depth of love she extended to her daughter. 4. The Daughter’s Responsive Inborn Love of her Mother:
Nor let us forget her daughter’s childlike (sometimes, though not invariably, innocent) love and the wide range of emotional responses to her Mother, as in these verses: VIII A little child she, half defiant came Ah yes! Doesn’t this sound all too familiar? A child will argue with her parents that black is white and white is black, resorting to any of a thousand rationalizations that appeal so strongly to the child’s vivid imagination! Yet, in the very next breath, wouldn’t you know, your child, your daughter comes traipsing along and, before your delighted eyes, presents you with this appreciative gift! XII She has made me wayside posies: Or, in another moment of sweet intimacy, she confides in you, whispering in your ear: XIII My darling scarce thinks music sweet save mine: Or, as Mother herself cannot fail to observe, and often at that: XIV Yet, ah! my child with the child's trustful eyes! And yet again: XX There's one I miss. A little questioning maid In conclusion, what we have here is a synergy of love, a Mother-Child alliance, indissoluble and unshakeable in the face of anything the World throws at it. It is for this intimate portrait of the telling relationship between Mother and child that this sonnet sequence is so very remarkable, standing, as it does, sublimely alone in the annals of the English poetic repertoire. 5. How the Mother Views the Father’s Love towards his Child: But there is more. Augusta Weber even provides insight into her empathetic perspective on the Father’s deep love towards their daughter: XI Love’s Mourner 'Tis men who say that through all hurt and pain 6. “A Mother and Child Reunion" is all Alive with Unifying Intimacy: And there is, above all, a telling overarching intimacy which unifies and illuminates the sonnet sequence as a whole. This feeling is inescapable to anyone with any sense of familial love, who reads these 27 sonnets with all the care and delight they so richly deserve. This unifying intimacy of the sonnets, in turn, manifests itself powerfully through the astonishing sweep of Augusta Weber’s Motherly love, as lyrically and majestically rendered as it is. Our maternally inspired poetess is, at all times and in all places throughout these sonnets, faithfully inspired, in so far as she is surely as faithful in love to her daughter as any truly devoted Mother in all fairness is. To evidence this, I cite, for instance: EXCERPT A I Young laughters, and my music! Aye till now … passim … Comes not again the young spring joy that went. ROME, November 1881 II Oh goddess head! Oh innocent brave eyes! III I watch the sweet grave face in timorous thought (verse 1) Yes, for her child, her only daughter, birth is unremembered and death is scarcely entertained. Such childlike thoughts go hand in hand. 7. “The Wages of Sin is Death”, but Motherly Love Divine: Such Motherly love as is Augusta’s must by nature overcome “sin” (natural human error and weakness in the expression of love, even maternal). The sublimity of such sentiments as only a Mother may faithfully devote to her child in her indivisible love, is vividly conveyed through these verses: XXVI Oh! Child and mother, darling! Mother and child! Is not this the outward expression of the indissoluble bond of Mother-Child love, duality made one, “paired alone”? Yet again, we stand witness to the instinctive, all-embracing, all-powerful love of the Mother for her newborn child, as she so fondly relives that joyous occasion, her daughter's birth: XVIII Since first my little one lay on my breast The sentiment is repeated here, where the Mother exults in her infant’s first smile of recognition, as she first revels in her mother’s responsive, gentle smile: But she is cause that any baby thing 8. Conclusions: All things considered, the inestimable literary and poetic merit of this little known sonnet sequence, “incomplete” as it seems, is quite striking. We have only to remind ourselves of the similar impact of other great “unfinished” artistic achievements, such as Franz Schubert’s “Unfinished Symphony” to realize that “unfinished” does not mean such artistic feats are any the less illustrious for that. More often than not, the contrary is true. In this light, the sonnet sequence in question may be literarily “incomplete”, but it does not leave the reader with that impression in the least: on the contrary, it “feels” finished, even polished, and impresses the reader’s mind and heart with its spirited maternal harmony. [1] "liefer" (this entry from thesaurus.com): adv. lief•er, lief•est [2] The full text of William M. Rossetti's commentary on Augusta Weber's 27 sonnets, "Mother and Daughter" may be found by scrolling about 1/3 the way down the page on the link to 27 sonnets in the title of this review. [3] For more details, See Vallance Review 17, January, 2003, Poetry Life and Times: "The Historical Evolution of the Sonnet: Part 1", Section 1.1.3.3.5 Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), The "Crossed" Rhyme Scheme. To Marion Genest...
...Love from us all at Poetry Life & Times x
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