Poets, Poetry, and Women
For well thou know’st to my dear doting heart
Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel.
Yet, in good faith, some say that thee behold,
Thy face hath not the power to make love groan ~ Sonnet 131
……..
Who thinks of blank Eurydice? None. Slack
Her hair may well have been. It seems we do
Not know her coloration. This great lack
Is emblematic. If her eyes were blue,
Or black, or green, or brown, no one has thought
About them. If her hair was curled, or straight,
Or wavy, we know nothing of it. Naught
Is known except she was the wife, the bait
To lure the poet into hell. He went
To find her to recover her and so
We guess that she was lovely. Love is meant
To leap from beauty. This might make him go
To Hades, but then men are known to fall
For even ugly women, graceful as a scrawl.