🔗 Share this article

Now you have bestowed me leave to love,
What will you act?
Am I to your mirth, or emotion arouse,
When I commence pursue;
Will you torment, or mock, or adore me too?

Every minor beauty can disdain, and I
Spight of your hate
Lacking your leave can perceive, and succumb;
Dispense a nobler Lot!
It is effortless to ruin, you could create.

Thus grant me leave to love, & cherish me too
Lacking purpose
To uplift, as Loves damned insurgents behave
As whining Bards moan,
Acclaim to their beauty, from their blubber’d gaze.

Sorrow is a pool and mirrors not distinct
Your beauty’s rayes;
Joys are untainted streames, your gaze seem
Sullen in sadder layes,
Through joyful numbers they radiate brilliant with prayse.

Which will not allude to portray you lovely
Harms, fires, and darts,
Tempests in your brow, traps in your hayr,
Suborning all your attributes,
Or to betray, or torture ensnared souls.

I will make your gaze like dawn suns seem,
As soft, and fair;
One's brow as Crystall polished, and clear,
While your unkempt locks
Shall drift like a calm Region of the Air.

Rich Nature's store (which is the Poet’s Wealth)
I shall spend, to adorn
Thy graces, if your Wellspring of Pleasure
In equal appreciation
You but release, so we mutually grace.

Exploring the Verse's Ideas

The work explores the relationship of love and acclaim, where the narrator engages with a woman who requests his love. Conversely, he offers a mutual agreement of poetic admiration for intimate delights. This wording is elegant, combining courtly traditions with direct utterances of yearning.

In the lines, the author spurns typical themes of unreturned passion, like grief and tears, claiming they cloud true grace. He chooses delight and acclaim to showcase the woman's features, assuring to portray her eyes as shining stars and her tresses as drifting breeze. The approach highlights a practical yet skillful view on relationships.

Key Elements of the Work

• Mutual Exchange: The verse revolves on a suggestion of admiration in exchange for delight, highlighting balance between the individuals.
• Spurning of Traditional Themes: The poet disparages common literary techniques like grief and metaphors of suffering, favoring upbeat depictions.
• Poetic Artistry: The use of diverse line lengths and cadence demonstrates the author's proficiency in poetry, producing a fluid and engaging experience.

Wealthy Nature's treasury (which is the Poet’s Wealth)
I will expend, to adorn
Thy charms, if your Mine of Pleasure
With matching appreciation
Thou but unlock, so we mutually bless.

The stanza encapsulates the essential arrangement, as the writer pledges to utilize his inventive abilities to praise the lady, as compensation for her receptiveness. This wording mixes pious overtones with earthly desires, giving depth to the verse's message.