Elizabeth
Elizabeth - meaning Summary
First Things Uppermost
The speaker addresses Elizabeth and argues, with playful logic, that her name should appear first in her own book. He dismisses philosophical objections and confesses a contrarian impulse. He criticizes poets who pursue inspiration without learning or sense, then insists on a simple moral: record what matters most. The closing line enacts that rule — put "first things" uppermost in the heart — making personal priority the poem’s central claim.
Read Complete AnalysesElizabeth, it surely is most fit - Logic and common usage so commanding - In thy own book that first thy name be writ, Zeno and other sages notwithstanding; And I have other reasons for so doing Besides my innate love of contradiction; Each poet – if a poet – in pursuing The muses thro’ their bowers of Truth or Fiction, Has studied very little of his part, Read nothing, written less – in short’s a fool Endued with neither soul, nor sense, nor art, Being ignorant of one important rule, Employed in even the theses of the school- Called – I forget the heathenish Greek name - Called anything, its meaning is the same - “Always write first things uppermost in the heart.”
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