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Home  »  Parnassus  »  Coventry Patmore (1823–1896)

Ralph Waldo Emerson, comp. (1803–1882). Parnassus: An Anthology of Poetry. 1880.

The Rose of the World

Coventry Patmore (1823–1896)

I.
LO, when the Lord made north and south,

And sun and moon ordained, he,

Forth bringing each by word of mouth

In order of its dignity,

Did man from the crude clay express

By sequence, and, all else decreed,

He formed the woman; nor might less

Than Sabbath such a work succeed.

II.
And still with favor singled out,

Marred less than man by mortal fall,

Her disposition is devout,

Her countenance angelical.

No faithless thought her instinct shrouds,

But fancy checkers settled sense,

Like alteration of the clouds

On noonday’s azure permanence.

Pure courtesy, composure, ease,

Declare affections nobly fixed,

And impulse sprung from due degrees

Of sense and spirit sweetly mixed.

Her modesty, her chiefest grace,

The cestus clasping Venus’ side,

Is potent to deject the face

Of him who would affront its pride.

Wrong dares not in her presence speak,

Nor spotted thought its taint disclose

Under the protest of a cheek

Outbragging Nature’s boast, the rose.

In mind and manners how discreet!

How artless in her very art!

How candid in discourse! how sweet

The concord of her lips and heart!

How (not to call true instinct’s bent

And woman’s very nature harm),

How amiable and innocent

Her pleasure in her power to charm!

How humbly careful to attract,

Though crowned with all the soul desires,

Connubial aptitude exact,

Diversity that never tires!