NAVIGATION: Index of Dr. Weller's Class Materials

"Still to be neat" by Ben Jonson

1. Still: always.
  1    Still to be neat, still to be dressed,
2. feast: The word is pronounced like "fest" in "festival," and rhymes with "dressed."
  2    As you were going to a feast;
  3    Still to be powdered, still perfumed:
  4    Lady, it is to be presumed,
  5    Though art's hid causes are not found,
  6    All is not sweet, all is not sound.

  7    Give me a look, give me a face,
  8    That makes simplicity a grace;
  9    Robes loosely flowing, hair as free:
 10    Such sweet neglect more taketh me
11. adulteries of art: the mixing of colors involved in the preparation and application of makeup.
 11    Than all the adulteries of art;
 12    They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.

Study Questions

  1. What is the rhyme scheme?
  2. What is the verse form? (Iambic pentameter? Other?)
  3. What lines have strong cesuras?
  4. Throughout the poem, how does the sound support the sense?