Explore "The Lady and the Painter" by Robert Browning on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
_She._ Yet womanhood you reverence, / So you profess! / _He._ With heart and soul. / _She._ Of which fact this is evidence! / To help Art-study, -- for some dole / Of certain wretched shillings, -- you / Induce a woman -- virgin too -- / To strip and stand stark-naked? / _He._ True. / _She._ Nor feel you so degrade her? / _He._ What / -- (Excuse the interruption) -- clings / Half-savage-like around your hat? / _She._ Ah, do they please you? Wild-bird-wings! / Next season, -- Paris-prints assert, -- / We must go feathered to the skirt: / My modiste keeps on the alert.
Owls, hawks, jays -- swallows most approve. / _He._ Dare I speak plainly? / _She._ Oh, I trust! / _He._ Then, Lady Blanche, it less would move / In heart and soul of me disgust / Did you strip off those spoils you wear, / And stand -- for thanks, not shillings -- bare / To help Art like my Model there. / _She_ well knew what absolved her -- praise / In me for God's surpassing good, / Who granted to my reverent gaze / A type of purest womanhood. / _You_ -- clothed with murder of his best / Of harmless beings -- stand the test! / What is it _you_ know? / _She._ That you jest!