The locks that are like all these wonderful things are those of Lizzie’s little sister Laura, who had tasted the fruits of the goblin-men. How different from this is “The Convent Threshold”! It is a strong poem, but of the earth earthy. As far as one can judge, it is the address of a young lady to her lover, who is still in the world and apparently enjoying a gay life. She has sinned, and remorse or some other motive seems to have driven her within the convent walls. She gives her lover admirable advice, but the old leaven is not yet purged out, as may be seen from the final exhortation: “Look up, rise up; for far above Our palms are grown, our place is set; There we shall meet as once we met, And love with old familiar love.”―― Which may be a very pleasant prospect for separated lovers, but is scarcely heaven. The poem contains a strong contrast――and yet how weak a one to the truly spiritual soul!――between the higher and the lower life. “Your eyes look earthward; mine look up. I see the far-off city grand, Beyond the hills a watered land, Beyond the gulf a gleaming strand Of mansions where the righteous sup Who sleep at ease among the trees, Or wake to sing a cadenced hymn With Cherubim and Seraphim; They bore the cross, they drained the cup, Racked, roasted, crushed, rent limb from limb―― They, the off-scouring of the world: The heaven of starry heavens unfurled, The sun before their face is dim. “You, looking earthward, what see you? Milk-white, wine-flushed among the vines, Up and down leaping, to and fro, Most glad, most full, made strong with wines, Blooming as peaches pearled with dew, Their golden, windy hair afloat, Love-music warbling in their throat, Young men and women come and go.” Something much more characteristic of the school to which Miss Rossetti belongs is “The Poor Ghost,” some of which we quote as a sample: “Oh! whence do you come, my dear friend, to me, With your golden hair all fallen below your knee, And your face as white as snow-drops on the lea, And your voice as hollow as the hollow sea?” “From the other world I come back to you, My locks are uncurled with dripping, drenching dew. You know the old, whilst I know the new: But to-morrow you shall know this too.” * * * * * “Life is gone, then love too is gone, It was a reed that I leant upon: Never doubt I will leave you alone And not wake you rattling bone with bone.”