Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, FABLES FOR THE LADIES: THE GOOSE AND THE SWANS, by EDWARD MOORE (1712-1757)


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FABLES FOR THE LADIES: THE GOOSE AND THE SWANS, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: I hate the face, however fair
Last Line: You only her defects reveal.
Subject(s): Beauty; Birds; Fables; Faces; Geese; Nature; Swans; Women; Allegories


I HATE the face, however fair,
That carries an affected air:
The lisping tone, the shape constrain'd,
The studied look, the passion feign'd,
Are fopperies which only tend
To injure what they strive to mend.
With what superior grace enchants
The face which Nature's pencil paints,
Where eyes, unexercis'd in art,
Glow with the meaning of the heart,
Where freedom and good humour sit,
And easy gaiety and wit!
Though perfect beauty be not there,
The master lines, the finish'd air;
We catch from every look delight,
And grow enamour'd at the sight;
For beauty, though we all approve,
Excites our wonder more than love;
While the agreeable strikes sure,
And gives the wounds we cannot cure.
Why then, my Amoret! this care
That forms you in effect less fair?
If Nature on your cheek bestows
A bloom that emulates the rose,
Or from some heavenly image drew
A form Apelles never knew,
Your ill-judg'd aid will you impart,
And spoil by meretricious art?
Or had you, Nature's error, come
Abortive from the mother's womb,
Your forming care she still rejects,
Which only heightens her defects.
When such, of glittering jewels proud,
Still press the foremost in the crowd,
At every public show are seen,
With look awry and awkward mien,
The gaudy dress attracts the eye,
And magnifies deformity.
Nature may underdo her part,
But seldom wants the help of art:
Trust her; she is your surest friend,
Nor made your form for you to mend.
A Goose, affected, empty, vain,
The shrillest of the cackling train,
With proud and elevated crest,
Precedence claim'd above the rest.
Says she, 'I laugh at human race,
Who say Geese hobble in their pace:
Look here! the slanderous lie detect;
Not haughty man is so erect.
That peacock yonder, Lord! how vain
The creature's of his gaudy train!
If both were stript, I'd pawn my word,
A Goose would be the finer bird.
Nature, to hide her own defects,
Her bungled work with finery decks:
Were Geese set off with half that show,
Would men admire the peacock? No.'
Thus, vaunting, cross the mead she stalks,
The cackling breed attend her walks;
The sun shot down his noontide beams,
The Swans were sporting in the streams;
Their snowy plumes and stately pride
Provok'd her spleen. 'Why there,' she cried,
'Again what arrogance we see!
Those creatures! how they mimic me!
Shall every fowl the waters skim,
Because we Geese are known to swim?
Humility they soon shall learn,
And their own emptiness discern.'
So saying, with extended wings,
Lightly upon the wave she springs;
Her bosom swells, she spreads her plumes,
And the Swan's stately crest assumes.
Contempt and mockery ensued,
And bursts of laughter shook the flood.
A Swan, superior to the rest,
Sprung forth, and thus the fool addrest:
'Conceited thing! elate with pride,
Thy affectation all deride:
These airs thy awkwardness impart,
And show thee plainly as thou art.
Among thy equals of the flock,
Thou hadst escap'd the public mock;
And as thy parts to good conduce,
Been deem'd an honest hobbling Goose.'
Learn hence to study wisdom's rules;
Know foppery is the pride of fools;
And, striving Nature to conceal,
You only her defects reveal.





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