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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


TO THE VIRTUOUS AND NOBLE LADY, THE LADY COTTON by THOMAS RANDOLPH

Poet Analysis

First Line: TIS NOT TO FORCE MORE TEARS FROM YOUR SAD EYE
Last Line: FOR HE WAS BUT OUR WONDER -- YOU WERE HIS.

'TIS not to force more tears from your sad eye
That we write thus -- that were a piety
Turn'd guilt and sin; we only beg to come
And pay due tribute to his sacred tomb.
The Muses did divide his love with you,
And justly, therefore, may be mourners too.
Instead of cypress, they have brought fresh bays
To crown his urn, and every dirge is praise.
But since with him the learned tongues are gone,
Necessity here makes us use our own.
Read in his praise your own -- you cannot miss,
For he was but our wonder -- you were his.



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