Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The devil's most devilish when respectable.

The devil's most devilish when respectable.

And there my little doves did sit
With feathers softly brown
And glittering eyes that showed their read more

And there my little doves did sit
With feathers softly brown
And glittering eyes that showed their right
To general Nature's deep delight.

O rose, who dares to name thee?
No longer roseate now, nor soft, nor sweet,
But pale, read more

O rose, who dares to name thee?
No longer roseate now, nor soft, nor sweet,
But pale, and hard, and dry, as stubblewheat,--
Kept seven years in a drawer, thy titles shame thee.

Yet half the beast is the great god Pan,
To laugh, as he sits by the river,
read more

Yet half the beast is the great god Pan,
To laugh, as he sits by the river,
Making a poet out of a man.
The true gods sigh for the cost and the pain--
For the reed that grows never more again
As a reed with the reeds of the river.

At painful times, when composition is impossible and reading is not enough, grammars and dictionaries are excellent for distraction.

At painful times, when composition is impossible and reading is not enough, grammars and dictionaries are excellent for distraction.