'Beauty deludes.' O shaft well shot, To strike the mark's true opposite! That ugly good is scorn'd proves not 'Tis beauty lies, but lack of it. By Heaven's law the Jew might take A slave to wife, if she was fair; So strong a plea does beauty make That, where 'tis seen, discretion's there. If, by a monstrous chance, we learn That this illustrious vaunt's a lie, Our minds, by which the eyes discern, See hideous contrariety, And laugh at Nature's wanton mood, Which, thus a swinish thing to flout, Though haply in its gross way good, Hangs such a jewel in its snout. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A BOOK OF AIRS SONG 18 by THOMAS CAMPION WERE I BUT HIS OWN WIFE by ELLEN MARY PATRICK DOWNING TRAVEL by EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 11 by ALFRED TENNYSON PASSAGE TO INDIA by WALT WHITMAN |