Lines Written in Letters of an Italian Nun and an English Gentleman
Lines Written in Letters of an Italian Nun and an English Gentleman - meaning Summary
Flattery Versus Genuine Praise
The poem stages a response to a warning against flattering arts, addressing a young woman labeled a "simple girl." The speaker argues that supposed flattery is often not deceit but honest admiration: praise of beauty arises from genuine feeling or social duty rather than calculated trickery. It frames compliments as natural reactions to physical charm and urges the addressee not to recoil from candid youth but to accept praise without suspicion.
Read Complete Analyses‘Away, away, your fleeting arts May now betray some simpler hearts; And you will smile at their believing, And they shall weep at your deceiving.’ -Answer to the foregoing, addressed to miss- Dear, simple girl, those flattering arts, From which thou’dst guard frail female hearts, Exist but in imagination,– Mere phantoms of thine own creation; For he who views that witching grace, That perfect form, that lovely face, With eyes admiring, oh! believe me, He never wishes to deceive thee: Once in thy polish’d mirror glance, Thou’lt there descry that elegance Which from our sex demands such praises, But envy in the other raises: Then he who tells thee of thy beauty, Believe me, only does his duty: Ah! fly not from the candid youth; It is not flattery,–’tis truth.
July 1804
Feel free to be first to leave comment.