Poetry · Chapter
Chapter XIX explained
The speaker offers cynical advice on seduction, urging the lover to use plain speech, persistence, and material gifts to overcome a woman's feigned resistance, while warning that women's 'nay' often means 'yea' and that their wiles are insc
What happens
The speaker offers cynical advice on seduction, urging the lover to use plain speech, persistence, and material gifts to overcome a woman's feigned resistance, while warning that women's 'nay' often means 'yea' and that their wiles are inscrutable.
Themes in this chapter
Lust and Morality
The speaker's advice treats seduction as a strategic game, reducing love to conquest and questioning the sincerity of female virtue.
Truth and Deception
The poem dwells on the 'wiles and guiles' of women and the need for the lover to dissemble, highlighting the pervasive deceit in romantic pursuit.
Key passages
“When as thine eye hath chose the dame, And stall’d the deer that thou should’st strike, Let reason rule things worthy blame, As well as fancy partial might: Take counsel of some wiser head, Neither too young nor yet unwed.”
Once you have selected a woman as your target, let reason guide your actions, not just desire; seek advice from an older, married man.
The speaker advises rational deliberation in love, contrasting it with impulsive fancy.
“The strongest castle, tower, and town, The golden bullet beats it down.”
Money and gifts can overcome even the most fortified resistance.
A metaphor for the power of wealth in seduction, echoing the theme of material persuasion.
“A woman’s nay doth stand for nought?”
A woman's refusal is meaningless; she really means yes.
This cynical line reflects the speaker's view of female protest as mere pretense.