Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ELEGY: 1.2. BEAUTY UNADORNED, by SEXTUS PROPERTIUS Poet's Biography First Line: Dear girl, what boots it thus to dress thy hair Last Line: The woman pleases well who pleases one. Subject(s): Beauty | ||||||||
Dear girl, what boots it thus to dress thy hair, Or flaunt in silken garment rich and rare, To reek of perfume from a foreign mart, And pass thyself for other than thou art-- Thus Nature's gift of beauty to deface And rob thy own fair form of half its grace? Trust me, no skill can greater charms impart: Love is a naked boy and scorns all art. Bears not the sod unbidden blossoms rare? The untrained ivy, is it not most fair? Greenest the shrub on rocks untended grows, Brightest the rill in unhewn channel flows. The beach is with unpolished pebbles gay, And birds untutored trill the sweetest lay. Not thus the damsels of the golden age Were wont the hearts of heroes to engage: Their loveliness was to no jewels due, But to such tints as once Apelles drew. From vain coquettish arts they all were free, Content to charm with simple modesty. By thee despite to me will ne'er be done; The woman pleases well who pleases one. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...VARIATIONS: 14 by CONRAD AIKEN DIVINELY SUPERFLUOUS BEAUTY by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE BEAUTY OF THINGS by ROBINSON JEFFERS HOPE IS NOT FOR THE WISE by ROBINSON JEFFERS LIFE FROM THE LIFELESS by ROBINSON JEFFERS REARMAMENT by ROBINSON JEFFERS SHANE ONEILLS CAIRN by ROBINSON JEFFERS A BOOK OF AIRS: WHEN THOU MUST HOME by SEXTUS PROPERTIUS ELEGY: 3.25. REVENGE TO COME by SEXTUS PROPERTIUS ELEGY: 3.26. PRAYER FOR HIS LADY'S LIFE by SEXTUS PROPERTIUS |
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