Poems
A Pretty Woman
I.
That fawn-skin-dapple
And the blue eye
Dear and dewy,
And that infantine fresh air of hers!
II.
To think men cannot take you, Sweet,
And enfold you,
Ay, and hold you,
And so keep you what they make you, Sweet!
III
You like us for a glance, you know—-
For a word’s sake
Or a sword’s sake,
All’s the same, whate’er the chance, you know.
IV.
And in turn we make you ours, we say—-
You and youth too,
Eyes and mouth too,
All the face composed of flowers, we say.
V.
All’s our own, to make the most of, Sweet—-
Sing and say for,
Watch and pray for,
Keep a secret or go boast of, Sweet!
VI.
But for loving, why, you would not, Sweet,
Though we prayed you,
Paid you, brayed you
in a mortar—-for you could not, Sweet!
VII.
So, we leave the sweet face fondly there:
Be its beauty
Its sole duty!
Let all hope of grace beyond, lie there!
VIII.
And while the face lies quiet there,
Who shall wonder
That I ponder
A conclusion? I will try it there.
IX.
As,—-why must one, for the love foregone,
Scout mere liking?
Thunder-striking
Earth,—-the heaven, we looked above for, gone!
X.
Why, with beauty, needs there money be,
Love with liking?
Crush the fly-king
In his gauze, because no honey-bee?
XI.
May not liking be so simple-sweet,
If love grew there
‘Twould undo there
All that breaks the cheek to dimples sweet?
XII.
Is the creature too imperfect,
Would you mend it
And so end it?
Since not all addition perfects aye!
XIII.
Or is it of its kind, perhaps,
Just perfection—-
Whence, rejection
Of a grace not to its mind, perhaps?
XIV.
Shall we burn up, tread that face at once
Into tinder,
And so hinder
Sparks from kindling all the place at once?
XV.
Or else kiss away one’s soul on her?
Your love-fancies!
—-A sick man sees
Truer, when his hot eyes roll on her!
XVI.
Thus the craftsman thinks to grace the rose,—-
Plucks a mould-flower
For his gold flower,
Uses fine things that efface the rose:
XVII.
Rosy rubies make its cup more rose,
Precious metals
Ape the petals,—-
Last, some old king locks it up, morose!
XVIII.
Then how grace a rose? I know a way!
Leave it, rather.
Must you gather?
Smell, kiss, wear it—-at last, throw away!
That fawn-skin-dapple
And the blue eye
Dear and dewy,
And that infantine fresh air of hers!
II.
To think men cannot take you, Sweet,
And enfold you,
Ay, and hold you,
And so keep you what they make you, Sweet!
III
You like us for a glance, you know—-
For a word’s sake
Or a sword’s sake,
All’s the same, whate’er the chance, you know.
IV.
And in turn we make you ours, we say—-
You and youth too,
Eyes and mouth too,
All the face composed of flowers, we say.
V.
All’s our own, to make the most of, Sweet—-
Sing and say for,
Watch and pray for,
Keep a secret or go boast of, Sweet!
VI.
But for loving, why, you would not, Sweet,
Though we prayed you,
Paid you, brayed you
in a mortar—-for you could not, Sweet!
VII.
So, we leave the sweet face fondly there:
Be its beauty
Its sole duty!
Let all hope of grace beyond, lie there!
VIII.
And while the face lies quiet there,
Who shall wonder
That I ponder
A conclusion? I will try it there.
IX.
As,—-why must one, for the love foregone,
Scout mere liking?
Thunder-striking
Earth,—-the heaven, we looked above for, gone!
X.
Why, with beauty, needs there money be,
Love with liking?
Crush the fly-king
In his gauze, because no honey-bee?
XI.
May not liking be so simple-sweet,
If love grew there
‘Twould undo there
All that breaks the cheek to dimples sweet?
XII.
Is the creature too imperfect,
Would you mend it
And so end it?
Since not all addition perfects aye!
XIII.
Or is it of its kind, perhaps,
Just perfection—-
Whence, rejection
Of a grace not to its mind, perhaps?
XIV.
Shall we burn up, tread that face at once
Into tinder,
And so hinder
Sparks from kindling all the place at once?
XV.
Or else kiss away one’s soul on her?
Your love-fancies!
—-A sick man sees
Truer, when his hot eyes roll on her!
XVI.
Thus the craftsman thinks to grace the rose,—-
Plucks a mould-flower
For his gold flower,
Uses fine things that efface the rose:
XVII.
Rosy rubies make its cup more rose,
Precious metals
Ape the petals,—-
Last, some old king locks it up, morose!
XVIII.
Then how grace a rose? I know a way!
Leave it, rather.
Must you gather?
Smell, kiss, wear it—-at last, throw away!
Analysis (ai): The speaker oscillates between admiration and frustration, addressing the woman directly while revealing internal conflict about desire and control. His tone shifts from tender to possessive, then to philosophical resignation, suggesting ambivalence about emotional and physical possession.
Gender and Power Dynamics: The poem interrogates male entitlement to female beauty and affection, exposing the tension between admiration and ownership. Unlike many Victorian poems that idealize passive femininity, this work acknowledges the woman’s agency—she resists being reshaped by male desire.
Relation to Browning’s Other Works: Compared to dramatic monologues like “My Last Duchess,” where control turns deadly, here the speaker refrains from violence but still projects his anxieties onto the woman. The focus remains on internal debate rather than external action, aligning with Browning’s interest in psychological complexity.
Victorian Context and Norms: While Victorian poetry often frames women as moral or aesthetic ideals, this poem foregrounds their impenetrability to male influence. It challenges sentimental ideals of romance by suggesting that love cannot be forced or manufactured, even when beauty inspires obsession.
Structure and Form: The quatrains with recurring refrains create a rhythmic insistence that mirrors obsessive thought. The incremental build of arguments across stanzas reflects a mind working through logic rather than declaring fixed emotion.
Less-Discussed Angle: The Rejection of Improvement: Rather than lamenting unrequited love, the speaker questions whether altering the beloved—through love, force, or art—would ruin her natural state. This critiques Victorian impulses to refine or elevate nature through culture.
Comparison to Modern Concerns: Though written pre-20th century, the poem anticipates later discussions about objectification and consent, particularly how desire often seeks to consume or transform its object. It avoids romanticizing pursuit, instead highlighting its potential destructiveness.
Artistic Analogy in Final Stanzas: The rose metaphor shifts the focus from person to symbol, suggesting that true appreciation requires restraint. The craftsman who “effaces the rose” parallels the lover who ruins through excessive adornment or control.
Resolution and Irony: The speaker concludes not with conquest but release—“throw away”—introducing irony: the only way to honor beauty is to relinquish it. This stands in contrast to Browning’s more domineering narrators who assert control.
Language and Rhythm: Colloquial contractions and dashes imitate spoken thought, creating intimacy. The irregular line lengths and enjambment disrupt lyrical smoothness, emphasizing argument over song.
Gender and Power Dynamics: The poem interrogates male entitlement to female beauty and affection, exposing the tension between admiration and ownership. Unlike many Victorian poems that idealize passive femininity, this work acknowledges the woman’s agency—she resists being reshaped by male desire.
Relation to Browning’s Other Works: Compared to dramatic monologues like “My Last Duchess,” where control turns deadly, here the speaker refrains from violence but still projects his anxieties onto the woman. The focus remains on internal debate rather than external action, aligning with Browning’s interest in psychological complexity.
Victorian Context and Norms: While Victorian poetry often frames women as moral or aesthetic ideals, this poem foregrounds their impenetrability to male influence. It challenges sentimental ideals of romance by suggesting that love cannot be forced or manufactured, even when beauty inspires obsession.
Structure and Form: The quatrains with recurring refrains create a rhythmic insistence that mirrors obsessive thought. The incremental build of arguments across stanzas reflects a mind working through logic rather than declaring fixed emotion.
Less-Discussed Angle: The Rejection of Improvement: Rather than lamenting unrequited love, the speaker questions whether altering the beloved—through love, force, or art—would ruin her natural state. This critiques Victorian impulses to refine or elevate nature through culture.
Comparison to Modern Concerns: Though written pre-20th century, the poem anticipates later discussions about objectification and consent, particularly how desire often seeks to consume or transform its object. It avoids romanticizing pursuit, instead highlighting its potential destructiveness.
Artistic Analogy in Final Stanzas: The rose metaphor shifts the focus from person to symbol, suggesting that true appreciation requires restraint. The craftsman who “effaces the rose” parallels the lover who ruins through excessive adornment or control.
Resolution and Irony: The speaker concludes not with conquest but release—“throw away”—introducing irony: the only way to honor beauty is to relinquish it. This stands in contrast to Browning’s more domineering narrators who assert control.
Language and Rhythm: Colloquial contractions and dashes imitate spoken thought, creating intimacy. The irregular line lengths and enjambment disrupt lyrical smoothness, emphasizing argument over song.
Robert Browning
(7 May 1812 – 12 December 1889) was an English poet and playwright whose dramatic monologues put him high among the Victorian poets. He was noted for irony, characterization, dark humour, social commentary, historical settings and challenging vocabulary and syntax.
His early long poems Pauline (1833) and Paracelsus (1835) were acclaimed, but his reputation dwindled for a time – his 1840 poem Sordello was seen as wilfully obscure – and took over a decade to recover, by which time he had moved from Shelleyan forms to a more personal style. In 1846, he married fellow poet Elizabeth Barrett and moved to Italy. By her death in 1861, he had published the collection Men and Women (1855). His Dramatis Personae (1864) and book-length epic poem The Ring and the Book (1868–1869) made him a leading poet. By his death in 1889, he was seen as a sage and philosopher-poet who had fed into Victorian social and political discourse. Societies for studying his work survived in Britain and the US into the 20th century.
