By custom doomed to folly, sloth and ease, No wonder Pope such female triflers sees; Nor would the satirist confess the truth, Nothing so like as male and female youth; Nothing so like as man and woman old, Their joys, their woes, their hates, if truly told; Though different acts seem different sexes' growth, 'T is the same principle impels them both. -- View daring man, strong with ambition's fire; The conq'ring hero or the youthful squire, By different deeds aspire to deathless fame, One numbers man, the other numbers game. -- View a fair nymph, blessed with superior charms, Whose tempting form the coldest bosom warms; No eastern monarch more despotic reigns Than this fair tyrant of the Cyprian plains. Whether a crown or bauble we desire, Whether to learning or to dress aspire, Whether we wait with joy the trumpet's call, Or wish to shine the fairest at a ball; In either sex the appetite's the same, For love of power is still the love of fame. -- Woman must in a narrow orbit move, But power alike both males and females love. What makes the difference then, you may inquire, Between the hero and the rural squire? Between the maid bred up with courtly care, Or she who earns by toil her daily fare? Their power is stinted, but not so their will, Ambitious thoughts the humblest cottage fill; For as they can they push their little fame, And try to leave behind a deathless name. In education all the difference lies; Woman, if taught, would be as learned and wise As haughty man, inspired by arts and rules; Where God makes one, nature makes many fools; And though nugatixes are daily found, Flattering nugators equally abound. Such heads are toy-shops filled with trifling ware, And can each folly with each female share. A female mind like a rude fallow lies, No seeds are sown, but weeds spontaneous rise. As well might we expect in winter spring, As land untilled a fruitful crop should bring. As well we might expect Peruvian ore We should possess, yet dig not for the store. Culture improves all fruits, all sorts we find, Wit, judgment, sense, fruits of the human mind. Can female youth, left to weak woman's care, Misled by custom, Folly's fruitful heir; Told that their charms a monarch may enslave; That beauty, like the gods, can kill or save; Taught the arcana, the mysterious arts, By ambush, dress to catch unwary hearts; Or, wealthy born, taught to lisp French or dance, Their morals left, Lucretius-like, to chance; Unused to books, nor virtue taught to prize, Whose mind a savage waste, unpeopled lies, Which to supply, trifles fill up the void, And idly busy to no end employed; Can these resist, when soothing pleasure woos? Preserve their virtue, when their fame they lose? Can they on other themes converse or write, Than what they hear all day, or dream all night? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A SONG OF COURAGE by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON SPRING DAY: NIGHT AND SLEEP by AMY LOWELL |