35 “Untitled [Give me a free and noble style]” (1653)
Margaret Cavendish
Give me a[2] free and noble style that goes[3]
In an uncurbed strain, though wild it shows[4]:
Though[5] 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 up[7] with o’ernice pedantry.
Source:
“Untitled [Give me a free and noble style]” edited by Liza Blake from Margaret Cavendish’s Poems and Fancies licensed by CC BY-NC
- 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 ↵
