Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE POMPADOUR'S FAN, by HENRY AUSTIN DOBSON



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE POMPADOUR'S FAN, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Chicken skin, delicate, white
Last Line: This was the pompadour's fan!
Alternate Author Name(s): Dobson, Austin
Variant Title(s): On A Fan That Belonged To The Marquise De Pompadour;ballade Of The Pompadour's Fan
Subject(s): Fans; Pompadour, Marquise De (1721-1764)


Chicken-skin, delicate, white,
Painted by Carlo Vanloo,
Loves in a riot of light,
Roses and vaporous blue;
Hark to the dainty frou-frou!
Picture above, if you can,
Eyes that could melt as the dew,--
This was the Pompadour's fan!
See how they rise at the sight,
Thronging the OEil de Boeuf through,
Courtiers as butterflies bright,
Beauties that Fragonard drew,
Talon-rouge, falaba, queue,
Cardinal, duke, -- to a man,
Eager to sigh or to sue,--
This was the Pompadour's fan!
All, but things more than polite
Hung on this toy, voyez-vous!
Matters of state and of might,
Things that great ministers do;
Things that, maybe, overthrew
Those in whose brains they began;--
Here was the sign and the cue,--
This was the Pompadour's fan!
Where are the secrets it knew?
Weavings of plot and of plan?--
But where is the Pompadour, too?
This was the Pompadour's fan!




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