Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DEDICATION OF THE COOK, by ANNA WICKHAM



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DEDICATION OF THE COOK, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: If any ask why there's no great she-poet
Last Line: Will blossom from the ashes of my kitchen!
Alternate Author Name(s): Hepburn, Patrick, Mrs.
Subject(s): Cooking & Cooks; Women's Rights; Writing & Writers; Feminism


If any ask why there's no great She-Poet,
Let me come live with me, and he will know it:
If I'd indite an ode or mend a sonnet,
I must go choose a dish or tie a bonnet;
For she who serves in forced virginity
Since I am wedded will not have me free;
And those new flowers my garden is so rich in
Must die for clammy odors of my kitchen.

Yet I had chosen Dian's barrenness
I'm not a full woman, and I can't be less,
So could I state no certain truth for life,
Can I survive and be my good man's wife?

Yes! I will make the servant's cause my own
That she in pity leave me hours alone
So I will tend her mind and feed her wit
That she in time have her own joy of it;
And count it pride that not a sonnet's spoiled
Lacking her choice betwixt the baked and boiled.
So those young flowers my garden is so rich in
Will blossom from the ashes of my kitchen!





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