Three Palinodias - 02 Conflict Of Wit And Beauty
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 (Frankfurt) – 1832 (Weimar)
SIR Wit, who is so much esteem'd,
And who is worthy of all honour,
Saw Beauty his superior deem'd
By folks who loved to gaze upon her;
At this he was most sorely vex'd.
Then came Sir Breath (long known as fit
To represent the cause of wit),
Beginning, rudely, I admit,
To treat the lady with a text.
To this she hearken'd not at all,
But hasten'd to his principal:
"None are so wise, they say, as you,--
Is not the world enough for two?
If you are obstinate, good-bye!
If wise, to love me you will try,
For be assured the world can ne'er
Give birth to a more handsome pair."
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FAIR daughters were by Beauty rear'd,
Wit had but dull sons for his lot;
So for a season it appear'd
Beauty was constant, Wit was not.
But Wit's a native of the soil,
So he return'd, work'd, strove amain,
And found--sweet guerdon for his toil!--
Beauty to quicken him again.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 53 sec read
- 63 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | A BA BC D D DCXXEE XBBB F GF GH IH I |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 834 |
Words | 169 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 2, 2, 1, 1, 6, 4, 1, 2, 2, 2, 1 |
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"Three Palinodias - 02 Conflict Of Wit And Beauty" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/21894/three-palinodias---02-conflict-of-wit-and-beauty>.
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