'Beauty deludes.' O shaft well shot, To strike the mark's true opposite! That ugly good is scorn'd proves not 'Tis beauty lies, but lack of it. By Heaven's law the Jew might take A slave to wife, if she was fair; So strong a plea does beauty make That, where 'tis seen, discretion's there. If, by a monstrous chance, we learn That this illustrious vaunt's a lie, Our minds, by which the eyes discern, See hideous contrariety, And laugh at Nature's wanton mood, Which, thus a swinish thing to flout, Though haply in its gross way good, Hangs such a jewel in its snout. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MILKING-MAID by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI OF A CONTENTED MIND [OR, SPIRIT] by THOMAS VAUX ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS: PART 1: 16. PERSUASION by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH THE TIMELY MEMENTO by PHILIP AYRES |