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.
- 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.”
- a] the 1653
- style that goes] Stile, 1653
- In an uncurbed strain, though wild it shows:] Which seems uncurb’d, though it be wild: 1653
- Though] For though 1664; For, though 1668
- wild about,] about 1664, 1668
- And not bound up] Not to be bound 1653