# Chapter XIX explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by William Shakespeare.

## 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 lines

> 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._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_28_se/chapters/xix
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_28_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_28_se/chapters