ABSTRACT
First publ. in Letters of RB and EBB i 348; repr. LK 336 (which notes the first draft of l.1: ‘And sinners to the extreme hour were we;’) and Penguin ii 951. Our text is that of the MS (now at Wellesley College) of B. ‘s letter of 21 Dec. 1845, the date of composition. The lines come from Purgatorio v 53–7. For details, including the passage in Italian, see headnote to Sordello, I 363. And sinners were we to the extreme hour; Then, light from heaven fell, making us aware, So that, repenting us and pardoned, out Of life we passed to God, at peace with Him 5 Who fills the heart with yearning Him to see.
