by Thomas Carew (1595? - 1639?)
Know, Celia, since thou art so proud
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Language: English
Know, Celia, since thou art so proud, ’Twas I that gave thee thy renown; Thou hadst in the forgotten crowd Of common beauties lived unknown, Had not my verse extoll’d thy name, And with it imp’d the wings of Fame. That killing power is none of thine: I gave it to thy voice and eyes; Thy sweets, thy graces, all are mine; Thou art my star, shin’st in my skies; Then dart not from thy borrowed sphere Lightning on him that fixed thee there. Tempt me with such affrights no more, Lest what I made I uncreate; Let fools thy mystic forms adore, I know thee in thy mortal state: Wise poets, that wrapt Truth in tales, Knew her themselves through all her veils.
About the headline (FAQ)
View text with all available footnotesConfirmed with English Poetry I: From Chaucer to Gray The Harvard Classics, 1909–14, Item 232.
Note provided by Iain Sneddon: "imped" is a falconry term referring to the insertion of new feathers to repair the broken fethers of a hawk's wing.
Text Authorship:
- by Thomas Carew (1595? - 1639?), "Know, Celia" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
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Research team for this page: Emily Ezust [Administrator] , Iain Sneddon [Guest Editor]
This text was added to the website: 2008-10-21
Line count: 18
Word count: 127