Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


CAELIA: SONNETS: 7 by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643)

Poet Analysis

First Line: FAIREST, WHEN I AM GONE, AS NOW THE GLASS
Last Line: AS FOR THE SMELL WE LIKE THE ROSE'S BEAUTY.
Subject(s): LOVE; ABSENCE; SEPARATION; ISOLATION;

FAIREST, when I am gone, as now the glass
Of Time is mark'd how long I have to stay,
Let me entreat you, ere from hence I pass,
Perhaps from you for evermore away,
Think that no common love hath fir'd my breast,
Nor base desire, but virtue truly known,
Which I may love, and wish to have possess'd,
Were you the high'st as fair'st of any one;
'Tis not your lovely eye enforcing flames,
Nor beauteous red beneath a snowy skin,
That so much binds me yours, or makes you fame's,
As the pure light and beauty shrin'd within:
Yet outward parts I must affect of duty,
As for the smell we like the rose's beauty.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net