OH, thou hadst been a wife for Shakespeare's self! No head, save some world-genius, ought to rest Above the treasures of that perfect breast, Or nightly draw fresh light from those keen stars Through which thy soul awes ours: yet thou art bound -- Oh waste of nature! -- to a craven hound; To shameless lust, and childish greed of pelf; Athene to a Satyr: was that link Forged by The Father's hand? Man's reason bars The bans which God allowed. -- Ay, so we think: Forgetting, thou hadst weaker been, full blest, Than thus made strong by suffering; and more great In martyrdom, than throned as Caesar's mate. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...EASTER HYMN by GEORGE SANTAYANA A WINTER BLUEJAY by SARA TEASDALE A STRANGE MEETING by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES SONNET: 10. TO THE LADY MARGARET LEY by JOHN MILTON A CHARACTER OF JOSEPH PRIESTLY by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD TWELVE SONNETS: 8 by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |