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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>A Hymn In Honour Of Beauty</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Ah whither, Love, wilt thou now carry me?<br>What wontless fury dost thou now inspire<br>Into my feeble breast, too full of thee?<br>Whilst seeking to aslake thy raging fire,<br>Thou in me kindlest much more great desire,<br>And up aloft above my strength dost raise<br>The wondrous matter of my fire to praise.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">That as I erst in praise of thine own name,<br>So now in honour of thy mother dear,<br>An honourable hymn I eke should frame,<br>And with the brightness of her beauty clear,<br>The ravish'd hearts of gazeful men might rear<br>To admiration of that heavenly light,<br>From whence proceeds such soul-enchanting might.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Thereto do thou, great goddess, queen of beauty,<br>Mother of love, and of all world's delight,<br>Without whose sovereign grace and kindly duty<br>Nothing on earth seems fair to fleshly sight,<br>Do thou vouchsafe with thy love-kindling light<br>T' illuminate my dim and dulled eyne,<br>And beautify this sacred hymn of thine:</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">That both to thee, to whom I mean it most,<br>And eke to her, whose fair immortal beam<br>Hath darted fire into my feeble ghost,<br>That now it wasted is with woes extreme,<br>It may so please, that she at length will stream<br>Some dew of grace into my withered heart,<br>After long sorrow and consuming smart.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">WHAT time this world's great Workmaster did cast<br>To make all things such as we now behold,<br>It seems that he before his eyes had plac'd<br>A goodly pattern, to whose perfect mould<br>He fashion'd them as comely as he could;<br>That now so fair and seemly they appear,<br>As nought may be amended anywhere.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">That wondrous pattern, wheresoe'er it be,<br>Whether in earth laid up in secret store,<br>Or else in heaven, that no man may it see<br>With sinful eyes, for fear it to deflore,<br>Is perfect Beauty, which all men adore;<br>Whose face and feature doth so much excel<br>All mortal sense, that none the same may tell.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Thereof as every earthly thing partakes<br>Or more or less, by influence divine,<br>So it more fair accordingly it makes,<br>And the gross matter of this earthly mine,<br>Which clotheth it, thereafter doth refine,<br>Doing away the dross which dims the light<br>Of that fair beam which therein is empight.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">For, through infusion of celestial power,<br>The duller earth it quick'neth with delight,<br>And lifeful spirits privily doth pour<br>Through all the parts, that to the looker's sight<br>They seem to please. That is thy sovereign might,<br>O Cyprian queen, which flowing from the beam<br>Of thy bright star, thou into them dost stream.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">That is the thing which giveth pleasant grace<br>To all things fair, that kindleth lively fire,<br>Light of thy lamp, which, shining in the face,<br>Thence to the soul darts amorous desire,<br>And robs the hearts of those which it admire;<br>Therewith thou pointest thy son's poison'd arrow,<br>That wounds the life, and wastes the inmost marrow.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">How vainly then do idle wits invent,<br>That beauty is nought else but mixture made<br>Of colours fair, and goodly temp'rament<br>Of pure complexions, that shall quickly fade<br>And pass away, like to a summer's shade;<br>Or that it is but comely composition<br>Of parts well measur'd, with meet disposition.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Hath white and red in it such wondrous power,<br>That it can pierce through th' eyes unto the heart,<br>And therein stir such rage and restless stour,<br>As nought but death can stint his dolour's smart?<br>Or can proportion of the outward part<br>Move such affection in the inward mind,<br>That it can rob both sense and reason blind?</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Why do not then the blossoms of the field,<br>Which are array'd with much more orient hue,<br>And to the sense most dainty odours yield,<br>Work like impression in the looker's view?<br>Or why do not fair pictures like power shew,<br>In which oft-times we nature see of art<br>Excell'd, in perfect limning every part?</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But ah, believe me, there is more than so,<br>That works such wonders in the minds of men;<br>I, that have often prov'd, too well it know,<br>And whoso list the like assays to ken,<br>Shall find by trial, and confess it then,<br>That beauty is not, as fond men misdeem,<br>An outward shew of things, that only seem.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">For that same goodly hue of white and red,<br>With which the cheeks are sprinkled, shall decay,<br>And those sweet rosy leaves, so fairly spread<br>Upon the lips, shall fade and fall away<br>To that they were, even to corrupted clay;<br>That golden wire, those sparkling stars so bright,<br>Shall turn to dust; and lose their goodly light.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But that fair lamp, from whose celestial ray<br>That light proceeds, which kindleth lovers' fire,<br>Shall never be extinguish'd nor decay;<br>But when the vital spirits do expire,<br>Unto her native planet shall retire;<br>For it is heavenly born and cannot die,<br>Being a parcel of the purest sky.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">For when the soul, the which derived was,<br>At first, out of that great immortal Spright,<br>By whom all live to love, whilom did pass<br>Down from the top of purest heaven's height<br>To be embodied here, it then took light<br>And lively spirits from that fairest star,<br>Which lights the world forth from his fiery car.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Which power retaining still or more or less,<br>When she in fleshly seed is eft enraced,<br>Through every part she doth the same impress,<br>According as the heavens have her graced,<br>And frames her house, in which she will be placed,<br>Fit for herself, adorning it with spoil<br>Of th' heavenly riches which she robb'd erewhile.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Thereof it comes that these fair souls, which have<br>The most resemblance of that heavenly light,<br>Frame to themselves most beautiful and brave<br>Their fleshly bower, most fit for their delight,<br>And the gross matter by a sovereign might<br>Tempers so trim, that it may well be seen<br>A palace fit for such a virgin queen.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">So every spirit, as it is most pure,<br>And hath in it the more of heavenly light,<br>So it the fairer body doth procure<br>To habit in, and it more fairly dight<br>With cheerful grace and amiable sight.<br>For of the soul the body form doth take:<br>For soul is form, and doth the body make.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Therefore wherever that thou dost behold<br>A comely corpse, with beauty fair endued,<br>Know this for certain, that the same doth hold<br>A beauteous soul, with fair conditions thewed,<br>Fit to receive the seed of virtue strewed.<br>For all that fair is, is by nature good;<br>That is a sign to know the gentle blood.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Yet oft it falls that many a gentle mind<br>Dwells in deformed tabernacle drown'd,<br>Either by chance, against the course of kind,<br>Or through unaptness in the substance found,<br>Which it assumed of some stubborn ground,<br>That will not yield unto her form's direction,<br>But is deform'd with some foul imperfection.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And oft it falls, (ay me, the more to rue)<br>That goodly beauty, albe heavenly born,<br>Is foul abus'd, and that celestial hue,<br>Which doth the world with her delight adorn,<br>Made but the bait of sin, and sinners' scorn,<br>Whilst every one doth seek and sue to have it,<br>But every one doth seek but to deprave it.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Yet nathëmore is that fair beauty's blame,<br>But theirs that do abuse it unto ill:<br>Nothing so good, but that through guilty shame<br>May be corrupt, and wrested unto will:<br>Natheless the soul is fair and beauteous still,<br>However flesh{"e}s fault it filthy make;<br>For things immortal no corruption take.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But ye fair dames, the world's dear ornaments<br>And lively images of heaven's light,<br>Let not your beams with such disparagements<br>Be dimm'd, and your bright glory dark'ned quite;<br>But mindful still of your first country's sight,<br>Do still preserve your first informed grace,<br>Whose shadow yet shines in your beauteous face.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Loathe that foul blot, that hellish firebrand,<br>Disloyal lust, fair beauty's foulest blame,<br>That base affections, which your ears would bland,<br>Commend to you by love's abused name,<br>But is indeed the bondslave of defame;<br>Which will the garland of your glory mar,<br>And quench the light of your bright shining star.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But gentle Love, that loyal is and true,<br>Will more illumine your resplendent ray,<br>And add more brightness to your goodly hue,<br>From light of his pure fire; which, by like way<br>Kindled of yours, your likeness doth display;<br>Like as two mirrors, by oppos'd reflection,<br>Do both express the face's first impression.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Therefore, to make your beauty more appear,<br>It you behoves to love, and forth to lay<br>That heavenly riches which in you ye bear,<br>That men the more admire their fountain may;<br>For else what booteth that celestial ray,<br>If it in darkness be enshrined ever,<br>That it of loving eyes be viewed never?</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But, in your choice of loves, this well advise,<br>That likest to yourselves ye them select,<br>The which your forms' first source may sympathize,<br>And with like beauty's parts be inly deckt;<br>For, if you loosely love without respect,<br>It is no love, but a discordant war,<br>Whose unlike parts amongst themselves do jar.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">For love is a celestial harmony<br>Of likely hearts compos'd of stars' concent,<br>Which join together in sweet sympathy,<br>To work each other's joy and true content,<br>Which they have harbour'd since their first descent<br>Out of their heavenly bowers, where they did see<br>And know each other here belov'd to be.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Then wrong it were that any other twain<br>Should in love's gentle band combined be<br>But those whom Heaven did at first ordain,<br>And made out of one mould the more t' agree;<br>For all that like the beauty which they see,<br>Straight do not love; for love is not so light<br>As straight to burn at first beholder's sight.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">But they, which love indeed, look otherwise,<br>With pure regard and spotless true intent,<br>Drawing out of the object of their eyes<br>A more refined form, which they present<br>Unto their mind, void of all blemishment;<br>Which it reducing to her first perfection,<br>Beholdeth free from flesh's frail infection.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And then conforming it unto the light,<br>Which in itself it hath remaining still,<br>Of that first Sun, yet sparkling in his sight,<br>Thereof he fashions in his higher skill<br>An heavenly beauty to his fancy's will;<br>And it embracing in his mind entire,<br>The mirror of his own thought doth admire.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Which seeing now so inly fair to be,<br>As outward it appeareth to the eye,<br>And with his spirit's proportion to agree,<br>He thereon fixeth all his fantasy,<br>And fully setteth his felicity;<br>Counting it fairer than it is indeed,<br>And yet indeed her fairness doth exceed.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">For lovers' eyes more sharply sighted be<br>Than other men's, and in dear love's delight<br>See more than any other eyes can see,<br>Through mutual receipt of beam{"e}s bright,<br>Which carry privy message to the spright,<br>And to their eyes that inmost fair display,<br>As plain as light discovers dawning day.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Therein they see, through amorous eye-glances,<br>Armies of loves still flying to and fro,<br>Which dart at them their little fiery lances;<br>Whom having wounded, back again they go,<br>Carrying compassion to their lovely foe;<br>Who, seeing her fair eyes' so sharp effect,<br>Cures all their sorrows with one sweet aspect.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">In which how many wonders do they rede<br>To their conceit, that others never see,<br>Now of her smiles, with which their souls they feed,<br>Like gods with nectar in their banquets free;<br>Now of her looks, which like to cordials be;<br>But when her words' embássade forth she sends,<br>Lord, how sweet music that unto them lends.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Sometimes upon her forehead they behold<br>A thousand graces masking in delight;<br>Sometimes within her eyelids they unfold<br>Ten thousand sweet belgards, which to their sight<br>Do seem like twinkling stars in frosty night;<br>But on her lips, like rosy buds in May,<br>So many millions of chaste pleasures play.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">All those, O Cytherea, and thousands more<br>Thy handmaids be, which do on thee attend,<br>To deck thy beauty with their dainties' store,<br>That may it more to mortal eyes commend,<br>And make it more admir'd of foe and friend:<br>That in men's hearts thou may'st thy throne install,<br>And spread thy lovely kingdom over all.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">Then Iö, triumph! O great Beauty's Queen,<br>Advance the banner of thy conquest high,<br>That all this world, the which thy vassals bene,<br>May draw to thee, and with due fealty<br>Adore the power of thy great majesty,<br>Singing this hymn in honour of thy name,<br>Compil'd by me, which thy poor liegeman am.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">In lieu whereof grant, O great sovereign,<br>That she whose conquering beauty doth captive<br>My trembling heart in her eternal chain,<br>One drop of grace at length will to me give,<br>That I her bounden thrall by her may live,<br>And this same life, which first fro me she reaved,<br>May owe to her, of whom I it received.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=374346" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">And you, fair Venus' darling, my dear dread,<br>Fresh flower of grace, great goddess of my life,<br>When your fair eyes these fearful lines shall read,<br>Deign to let fall one drop of due relief,<br>That may recure my heart's long pining grief,<br>And shew what wondrous power your beauty hath,<br>That can restore a damned wight from death.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><a href="http://poems.citatepedia.com/">poem</a> by <strong><a rel="author" href="http://authors.citatepedia.com/by.php?a=Edmund+Spenser">Edmund Spenser</a></strong></div>

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