Love

Simplex Munditiis

by Ben Jonson 1572-1637

From Lyrics from the Dramatists of the Elizabethan Age, ed. A. H. Bullen (London: Nimmo, 1889)

Love

Still to be neat, still to be drest,
As you were going to a feast;
Still to be powdered, still perfumed:
Lady, it is to be presumed,
Though art's hid causes are not found,
All is not sweet, all is not sound.

Give me a look, give me a face,
That makes simplicity a grace;
Robes loosely flowing, hair as free:
Such sweet neglect more taketh me
Than all the adulteries of art;
They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.

MLA

Jonson, Ben. “Simplex Munditiis.” Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/poem/jonson/43/.

Chicago

Jonson, Ben. “Simplex Munditiis.” Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/poem/jonson/43/.

Read this poem with the Codex →

More by Ben Jonson