The Naked and the Nude
Robert Graves 1895 (Wimbledon) – 1985 (Deià)
For me, the naked and the nude
(By lexicographers construed
As synonyms that should express
The same deficiency of dress
Or shelter) stand as wide apart
As love from lies, or truth from art.
Lovers without reproach will gaze
On bodies naked and ablaze;
The Hippocratic eye will see
In nakedness, anatomy;
And naked shines the Goddess when
She mounts her lion among men.
The nude are bold, the nude are sly
To hold each treasonable eye.
While draping by a showman's trick
Their dishabille in rhetoric,
They grin a mock-religious grin
Of scorn at those of naked skin.
The naked, therefore, who compete
Against the nude may know defeat;
Yet when they both together tread
The briary pastures of the dead,
By Gorgons with long whips pursued,
How naked go the sometimes nude!
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 41 sec read
- 494 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABBCC DDEEFF GGHHII JJKKAA |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 755 |
Words | 136 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
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"The Naked and the Nude" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/31191/the-naked-and-the-nude>.
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