Epigram on Seeing Miss Fontenelle in a Favourite
The speaker credits Nature for Miss Fontenelle’s charm and says she is acting only as herself. Only if she were awkward, stiff and affected would she truly be acting a part.
By Robert Burns · Genre: Epigram, Poetry · 72 words
First lines
Sweet naivete of feature, / Simple, wild, enchanting elf, / Not to thee, but thanks to Nature, / Thou art acting but thyself.
Wert thou awkward, stiff, affected, / Spurning Nature, torturing art; / Loves and Graces all rejected, / Then indeed thou'd'st act a part.
Genres
- Epigram — Two short stanzas turn a comment on performance into the pointed claim that affectation alone would constitute acting a part.
- Poetry — Eight rhyming lines contrast the addressee’s natural manner with a hypothetical stiff and affected performance.
Tags
acting · naturalness · affectation · epigram
What this Textopian page supports
Epigram on Seeing Miss Fontenelle in a Favourite Character is listed on Textopian as a poem by Robert Burns, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Robert Burns
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Epigram, Poetry
- Length: 72 words
- Structure: 1 section, 2 paragraphs
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