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Poetry · Poem

To Amarantha, that she would dishevel her Hair

Richard LovelaceSeventeenth-century EnglishPoem
SOURCE TEXT · English original
AMARANTHA sweet and fair,
Ah, braid no more that shining hair!
As my curious hand or eye
Hovering round thee, let it fly!

Let it fly as unconfined
As its calm ravisher the wind,
Who hath left his darling, th’ East,
To wanton o’er that spicy nest.

Every tress must be confest,
But neatly tangled at the best;
Like a clew of golden thread
Most excellently ravellèd.

Do not then wind up that light
In ribbands, and o’ercloud in night,
Like the Sun in’s early ray;
But shake your head, and scatter day!
Cultural reading

Reading the poem

The speaker asks Amarantha to stop braiding her hair and let it fly loose like the wind's plaything, arguing that tangled tresses are best and that unbinding it will scatter daylight rather than cloud it.

Language notes

Text and edition

The English text follows the fixed historical witness in The Oxford Book of English Verse; no modern third-party translation is included.