A lady somewhat dowdy as to dress, A gentle Brahmin of old family Sighing in shocked bewilderment to see How progress threatens her exclusiveness; She shows a helpless, fluttering distress Because her children somehow seem to be Raucously modern, wholly out of key With what she feels true culture should express. And yet for all her well-bred scorn of change And chill defense of custom and of caste, Her stern resistance to the new and strange, This fine old gentlewoman of the past Has eyes whose glance, with courteous manner met, Glows sweetly through her often raised lorgnette. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...GEIST'S GRAVE by MATTHEW ARNOLD AN ANSWER TO THE PARSON by WILLIAM BLAKE TWO WITCHES: 1. THE WITCH OF COOS by ROBERT FROST WAITING - BOTH by THOMAS HARDY TO DAISIES, NOT TO SHUT TOO SOON by ROBERT HERRICK TO A BLOCKHEAD by ALEXANDER POPE TO A HIGHLAND GIRL; AT INVERSNAID, UPON LOCH LOMOND by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH |