Skip to content
Linespedia

To Mary Wollstonecraft.

By Robert Southey

Topics: classic

The lilly cheek, the "purple light of love,"     The liquid lustre of the melting eye,--     Mary! of these the Poet sung, for these     Did Woman triumph! with no angry frown     View this degrading conquest. At that age     No MAID OF ARC had snatch'd from coward man     The heaven-blest sword of Liberty; thy sex     Could boast no female ROLAND'S martyrdom;     No CORDE'S angel and avenging arm     Had sanctified again the Murderer's name     As erst when Caesar perish'd: yet some strains     May even adorn this theme, befitting me     To offer, nor unworthy thy regard.

AI analysis available. Enable JavaScript to interact.

About this line

"The lilly cheek, the "purple light of love,"..."

Exploring the themes of classic, Robert Southey delivers a powerful performance in "To Mary Wollstonecraft."... ### Why We Love This Line At Linespedia, we believe that poetry is the ultimate sanctuary for the soul...

Attribution & Rights

Author:Robert Southey

"The lilly cheek, the "purple light of love,"..." by Robert Southey

For usage rights, copyright concerns, or to report an issue with this content, please visit our Copyright & Report page.

Related lines

"Enter this cavern Stranger! the ascent     Is long and steep and toilsome; here awhile     Thou mayest repose thee, from the noontide heat"

"Here Stranger rest thee! from the neighbouring towers     Of Oxford, haply thou hast forced thy bark     Up this strong stream, whose broken wat"

"O thou who from the mountain's height         Roll'st down thy clouds with all their weight     Of waters to old Niles majestic tide;"

"(Time Night. Scene the woods.)     Where shall I turn me? whither shall I bend     My weary way? thus worn with toil and faint     How thro' the"

"Here morning in the ploughman's songs is met     Ere yet one footstep shows in all the sky,     And twilight in the east, a doubt as yet,     S"

"The Text is taken from Percy's Reliques (1765), vol. i. p. 71, 'given from two MS. copies, transmitted from Scotland.' Herd had a very similar bal"

Robert Southey

About Robert Southey

Robert Southey (1774–1843) was an English Romantic poet, historian, and biographer who served as Poet Laureate from 1813 to 1843. His poems include "The Battle of Blenheim" and "The Inchcape Rock," and he was a member of the Lake Poets alongside Wordsworth and Coleridge.

Full Bibliography
Continue Reading

"Enter this cavern Stranger! the ascent     Is long..."

Weekly Poetic Insight

Join our literary Sanctuary

Get the most inspiring lines, poetic analysis, and secret shayaris delivered to your inbox every Sunday.