Phyllis's Age

Matthew Prior 1664 – 1721



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.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

21 sec read
354

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB XXXX CDCD
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 400
Words 72
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4

Matthew Prior

Matthew Prior was an English poet and diplomat. more…

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