Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BEAUTY by ELINOR WYLIE

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: SAY NOT OF BEAUTY SHE IS GOOD
Last Line: THE HARD HEART OF A CHILD.
Subject(s): BEAUTY;
Say not of Beauty she is good,
Or aught but beautiful,
Or sleek to doves' wings of the wood
Her wild wings of a gull.

Call her not wicked; that word's touch
Consumes her like a curse;
But love her not too much, too much,
For that is even worse.

O, she is neither good nor bad,
But innocent and wild!
Enshrine her and she dies, who had
The hard heart of a child.



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