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Poetry · Chapter
CXVIII explained
A brief dialogue where a woman claims her laws are part of herself and read by examining her heart, and a man responds that like Moses' laws, hers are also engraved upon stone.
What happens
A brief dialogue where a woman claims her laws are part of herself and read by examining her heart, and a man responds that like Moses' laws, hers are also engraved upon stone.
Key passages
“My laws are of myself a part: I read them by examining my heart.”
The woman asserts that her moral code is intrinsic to her being and can be understood through introspection.
The speaker claims self-derived morality.
“True; like those to Moses known, Thine also are engraven upon stone.”
The man agrees but points out that her laws, like the Ten Commandments, are fixed and externalized.
The reply suggests that even self-derived laws become rigid and inscribed.