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Phyllis's Age
by
Matthew Prior


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How old may Phyllis be, you ask,
Whose beauty thus all hearts engages?
To answer is no easy task;
For she has really two ages.

Stiff in brocard, and pinch'd in stays,
Her patches, paint, and jewels on;
All day let envy view her face;
And Phyllis is but twenty-one.

Paint, patches, jewels laid aside,
At night astronomers agree,
The evening has the day belied;
And Phyllis is some forty-three.

This poem is in the public domain.

 

 


  

British poet Matthew Prior (1664 - 1721) apprenticed as a tavern-keeper but received a scholarship to attend Cambridge and thus became a scholar and a diplomat rather than a bartender. He served as a gentleman, a secretary, a secret agent, and an ambassador, and was impeached and imprisoned by the opposition for two years, during which time he produced some quite cheerful verse. Though Prior's love poems are a bit stiff, he had a true gift for wit and satire and his talent earned him a final resting place in Westminster Abbey.

 

 


Post New Comment:
EstherJ:
Funny! Could be said of many women today also.
Posted 06/24/2024 11:17 AM
Larry Schug:
Well, I suppose in 1700...
Posted 06/24/2024 08:11 AM
erinsnana:
Very funny!
Posted 06/24/2014 09:42 AM
phebe.davidson@gmail.com:
Hah! I like this one a lot---
Posted 06/24/2014 06:10 AM


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