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AMORETTI: 47 by EDMUND SPENSER

Poet Analysis

First Line: TRUST NOT THE TREASON OF THOSE SMILING LOOKS
Last Line: AND THINCK THEY DY WITH PLEASURE, LIVE WITH PAYNE.
Subject(s): CRUELTY;

Trust not the treason of those smyling lookes,
Untill ye have theyr guylefull traynes well tryde:
For they are lyke but unto golden hookes,
That from the foolish fish theyr bayts do hyde:
So she with flattring smyles weake harts doth guyde
Unto her love, and tempte to theyr decay;
Whome being caught, she kills with cruell pryde,
And feeds at pleasure on the wretched pray.
Yet even whylst her bloody hands them slay,
Her eyes looke lovely, and upon them smyle,
That they take pleasure in her cruell play,
And, dying, doe them selves of payne beguyle.
O mighty charm! which makes men love theyr bane,
And thinck they dy with pleasure, live with payne.



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