Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO THE PAINTER, by THOMAS CAREW Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Fond man, that hop'st to catch that face Last Line: When the glad world shall see their heir. Subject(s): Paintings & Painters | ||||||||
FOND man, that hop'st to catch that face With those false colours, whose short grace Serves but to show the lookers-on The faults of thy presumption; Or, at the least, to let us see That is divine, but yet not she: Say you could imitate the rays Of those eyes that outshine the day's, Or counterfeit in red and white That most uncounterfeited light Of her complexion; yet canst thou, Great master though thou be, tell how To paint a virtue? Then desist, This fair your artifice hath miss'd. You should have mark'd how she begins To grow in virtue, not in sins; Instead of that same rosy dye, You should have drawn out modesty, Whose beauty sits enthroned there, And learn to look and blush at her. Or can you colour just the same, When virtue blushes or when shame? When sickness, and when innocence, Shows pale or white unto the sense? Can such coarse varnish e'er be said To imitate her white and red? This may do well elsewhere, in Spain, Among those faces dy'd in grain; So you may thrive, and what you do Prove the best picture of the two. Besides, if all I hear be true, 'Tis taken ill by some that you Should be so insolently vain, As to contrive all that rich gain Into one tablet, which alone May teach us superstition, Instructing our amazed eyes To admire and worship imag'ries, Such as quickly might outshine Some new saint, were 't allow'd a shrine, And turn each wand'ring looker-on Into a new Pygmalion. Yet your art cannot equalize This picture in her lover's eyes; His eyes the pencils are which limn Her truly, as hers copy him; His heart the tablet which alone Is for that portrait the tru'st stone. If you would a truer see, Mark it in their posterity: And you shall read it truly there, When the glad world shall see their heir. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...1801: AMONG THE PAPERS OF THE ENVOY TO CONSTANTINOPLE by RICHARD HOWARD VENETIAN INTERIOR, 1889 by RICHARD HOWARD THERE IS A GOLD LIGHT IN CERTAIN OLD PAINTINGS by DONALD JUSTICE DUTCH INTERIORS by JANE KENYON INVITATION TO A PAINTER: 3 by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM THE CHINA PAINTERS by TED KOOSER ELEGY FOR SOL LEWITT by ANN LAUTERBACH ON THE SEPARATION OF ADAM AND EVE by TIMOTHY LIU A DEPOSITION FROM LOVE by THOMAS CAREW A PASTORAL DIALOGUE: SHEPHERD, NYMPH, CHORUS by THOMAS CAREW |
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