WHEN I shall marry, if I do not find A wife thus moulded, I'll create this mind: Nor from her noble birth nor ample dower, Beauty, or wit, shall she derive a power To prejudice my right; but if she be A subject born, she shall be so to me: As to the soul the flesh, as appetite To reason is, which shall our wills unite In habits so confirm'd, as no rough sway Shall once appear, if she but learn t' obey. For in habitual virtues sense is wrought To that calm temper, as the body's thought To have nor blood nor gall, if wild and rude Passions of lust and anger are subdu'd; When 'tis the fair obedience to the soul Doth in the birth those swelling acts control. If I in murder steep my furious rage, Or with adult'ry my hot lust assuage, Will it suffice to say my sense, the beast, Provok'd me to 't? Could I my soul divest, My plea were good. Lions and bulls commit Both freely, but man must in judgment sit, And tame this beast; for Adam was not free When in excuse he said, Eve gave it me; Had he not eaten, she perhaps had been Unpunish'd: his consent made hers a sin. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AGAINST THE REST OF THE YEAR by JAMES GALVIN A MAN CHILD IS BORN (1839) by EDGAR LEE MASTERS ACCOMPLISHED FACTS by CARL SANDBURG ELEGY: THE LAMENT OF EDWARD BLASTOCK; FOR RICHARD ROWLEY by EDITH SITWELL A TRAGIC STORY by ADELBERT VON CHAMISSO CHRISMUS ON THE PLANTATION by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR FLANNAN ISLE by WILFRID WILSON GIBSON ECHOES: 7 by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY ECCLESIASTICAL SONNETS: PART 2: 25. THE VIRGIN by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH |