Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Admonition to Young Lasses" is a poem by Alexander Montgomerie, a Scottish poet who lived in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The poem is addressed to young women, and offers advice and guidance on how to live virtuous lives.

Explanation:

The poem begins with the speaker addressing young women and urging them to pursue virtue and avoid vice. He warns them against the dangers of vanity, pride, and greed, and encourages them to be modest, humble, and charitable. The speaker emphasizes the importance of moral and spiritual values, and urges young women to be true to themselves and to their own inner values. He also warns against the perils of temptation and the seductions of the world, and encourages young women to stay true to their faith and their own sense of right and wrong.

Poetic Elements:

• Form: The poem is written in rhyming couplets, with each couplet consisting of two lines of iambic pentameter.
• Theme: The poem explores the themes of virtue, vice, morality, and spirituality, as well as the importance of staying true to one's inner values.
• Imagery: The poem uses imagery of mirrors, pearls, and flowers to convey the speaker's message about the importance of inner beauty and virtue.
• Tone: The tone of the poem is one of admonition and guidance, as the speaker offers advice and warnings to young women.
• Sound: The poem uses rhyme and meter to create a sense of musicality and rhythm, as well as to underscore the themes of the poem.
• Language: The language of the poem is formal and elevated, with a focus on conveying the speaker's advice and guidance in a poetic and lyrical manner.
• Figurative language: The poem uses metaphor and symbolism, such as the metaphor of the mirror and the symbolism of pearls and flowers, to convey the speaker's message about the importance of inner beauty and virtue.
• Structure: The poem is divided into four stanzas, each consisting of six rhyming couplets.
• Symbolism: The poem uses the symbols of mirrors, pearls, and flowers to convey the speaker's message about the importance of inner beauty and virtue.
• Emotion: The poem conveys a sense of earnestness and concern, as the speaker offers advice and guidance to young women about how to live virtuous lives.

Conclusion:

"Admonition to Young Lasses" is a poem that offers advice and guidance to young women about how to live virtuous lives. Through the use of imagery, metaphor, and symbolism, Alexander Montgomerie conveys the importance of inner beauty and virtue, and warns against the dangers of vanity, pride, and greed. The poem emphasizes the importance of moral and spiritual values, and encourages young women to stay true to themselves and to their own sense of right and wrong.

POEM TEXT:

Sweet lassies, learn of me

To praise your Maker reverently;

For he that formed thee, is of might

To make of thee a heaven's delight.

If thou be fair, and gaily dress'd,

With jewels rich upon thy breast;

Yet shall the time come, sweetest maid,

When none shall have thy beauty said.

The gilded youth that ye so love,

With hearts as light as feathers move;

Their virtues vanish like a dream,

And vice with them is all supreme.

The honey'd words that ye so hear,

And believe with willing ear,

Are like to weightless bubbles bright,

That vanish with the air at sight.

Then flee from pride, and foolish pride,

Which doth the soul with sin betide;

And never think thy beauty rare,

For that which soon shall be thy care.

But let the pearl of thy pure heart,

Of price more rare than gold or art,

Be like the flower that's fair to see,

With fragrance pure and modesty.

And so may that fair floweret live,

In all that's pure, and good, and give

Sweetness to those who chance to come,

And dwell within thy peaceful home.

Thus may thy virtue shine like dew,

That from the lily's leaves we view,

Or like the blossom in the spring,

That to the bee doth perfume bring.

So shall thy beauty ever last,

When all its gilding's gone and past;

And thou shalt be, in ages hence,

The jewel of our reverence.

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