quote · Legacy record

For woman is not undevelopt man, But diverse: could we make her as the man, Sweet love were slain, whose dearest bond is this Not like to like, but like in difference: Yet in the long years liker must they grow; The man be more of woman, she of man; He gain in sweetness and in moral height, Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world; She mental breadth, nor fail in childward care: More as the double-natured Poet, each: Till at the last she set herself to man, Like perfect music unto noble words; And so these twain upon the skirts of Time, Sit side by side, full-summ’d in all their powers, Dispensing harvest, sowing the To-be, Self-reverent each, and reverencing each, Distinct in individualities, But like each other ev’n as those we love. Then comes the statelier Eden back to men, Then reign the world’s great bridals, chaste and calm; Then springs the crowning race of humankind!

For woman is not undevelopt man, But diverse: could we make her as the man, Sweet love were slain, whose dearest bond is this Not like to like, but like in difference: Yet in the long years liker must they grow; The man be more of woman, she of man; He gain in sweetness and in moral height, Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world; She mental breadth, nor fail in childward care: More as the double-natured Poet, each: Till at the last she set herself to man, Like perfect music unto noble words; And so these twain upon the skirts of Time, Sit side by side, full-summ’d in all their powers, Dispensing harvest, sowing the To-be, Self-reverent each, and reverencing each, Distinct in individualities, But like each other ev’n as those we love. Then comes the statelier Eden back to men, Then reign the world’s great bridals, chaste and calm; Then springs the crowning race of humankind!

Approximate author period: c. 1850 AD · industrial