Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A DISCOURAGING MODEL, by JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A DISCOURAGING MODEL, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Just the airiest, fairiest slip of a thing
Last Line: To expect a result half so fair?
Alternate Author Name(s): Johnson Of Boone, Benj. F.
Subject(s): Art & Artists; Beauty; Flowers; Models; Roses


JUST the airiest, fairiest slip of a thing,
With a Gainsborough hat, like a butterfly's wing,
Tilted up at one side with the jauntiest air,
And a knot of red roses sewn in under there
Where the shadows are lost in her hair.

Then a cameo face, carven in on a ground
Of that shadowy hair where the roses are wound;
And the gleam of a smile, O as fair and as faint
And as sweet as the masters of old used to paint
Round the lips of their favorite saint!

And that lace at her throat -- and the fluttering hands
Snowing there, with a grace that no art understands,
The flakes of their touches -- first fluttering at
The bow -- then the roses -- the hair -- and then that
Little tilt of the Gainsborough hat.

Ah, what artist on earth with a model like this,
Holding not on his palette the tint of a kiss,
Nor a pigment to hint of the hue of her hair
Nor the gold of her smile -- O what artist could dare
To expect a result half so fair?





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