Untitled [Give me a free and noble style]

¹

Give me a² free and noble style that goes³
In an uncurbed strain, though wild it shows:⁴
Though⁵ it runs wild about,⁶ it cares not where,
It shows more courage than it doth of fear.
Give me a style that Nature frames, not Art,               5
For Art doth seem to take the pedant’s part.
And that seems noble, which is easy, free,
And not bound up⁷ with o’ernice pedantry.

1. In some editions this poem is given the title “The Clasp”; as I have discussed in the Introduction to this site, I believe that “The Clasp” is not a poem title but a structural marker, so have named this poem as “Untitled.”
2. a] the 1653
3. style that goes] Stile, 1653
4. In an uncurbed strain, though wild it shows:] Which seems uncurb’d, though it be wild: 1653
5. Though] For though 1664; For, though 1668
6. wild about,] about 1664, 1668
7. And not bound up] Not to be bound 1653