Quote:
Originally Posted by cinderbella
Murdering Beauty, written by Thomas Carew about 1640:
[ ... ]
If she behold me with a pleasing eye
I surfeit with excess of joy and die.
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On first reading, it was ambiguous to me. But "upon further review," as they say at the football games, that final couplet gives, I think, the bottom-line meaning: the poet is the lady's fan.
I think the poem expresses a duality about how men see women that even you professional ladies may not be aware of: you're not only delightful, but you're also a little bit scary. In the presence of a naked woman, we feel the desire, but we're also aware of the significance and potentiality. I mean: that's where new people come from. Wasn't it the Elizabethans who sometimes referred to sex as "the dance at the beginning of the world?" And orgasm as the "little death?" It's fun and games, for sure -- but it's more than that, too.
And yes, by the way: this
is what I'm here for, thanks very much.