(no subject)

[redbird]

montrealais pointed me to A. D. Hope's fine "His Coy Mistress to Mr. Marvell":

May I suggest, before we part,
The best way to a woman's heart
Is to be modest, candid, true;
Tell her you love and show you do;
Neither cajole nor condescend
And base the lover on the friend;
Don't bustle her or fuss or snatch:
A suitor looking at his watch
Is not a posture that persuades
Willing, much less reluctant maids.

Comments

[takumashii.livejournal.com]

That is delightfully snarky.

[ailsaek.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I like that, thanks!

[oursin.livejournal.com]

In the splendid tradition of Sir Walter Raleigh's riposte to Marlowe's 'The Passionate Shepherd to his Love': which begins 'If all the world were fair and young, and truth in every shepherd's tongue...'

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

I would expect no less from Postumia's partisan.
"Can we sure? Have more states perished, then,
From having shackled the enquiring mind,
Than those who, in their folly not less blind,
Trusted the servile womb to breed free men?

I'm pretty sure the A.D. stood for something more like Athur than Arlene, too, which to my mind makes it more impressive. I should check.