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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


PERSUASIONS TO JOY: A SONG by THOMAS CAREW

Poet Analysis

First Line: IF THE QUICK SPIRITS IN YOUR EYE
Last Line: IN VAIN, OR ELSE IN VAIN HIS WINGS.
Subject(s): JOY;

IF the quick spirits in your eye
Now languish and anon must die;
If every sweet and every grace
Must fly from that forsaken face;
Then, Celia, let us reap our joys
Ere Time such goodly fruit destroys.

Or if that golden fleece must grow
For ever free from aged snow;
If those bright suns must know no shade,
Nor your fresh beauties ever fade;
Then fear not, Celia, to bestow
What, still being gather'd, still must grow.

Thus either Time his sickle brings
In vain, or else in vain his wings.




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