"To the fair Clarinda, who made Love to me, imagin'd more than Woman"
By Aphra Behn

Transcription, correction, editorial commentary, and markup by Students and Staff at the University of Virginia, John O'Brien
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Sources

London : Joseph Knight and Francis Saunders, 1688"To the fair Clarinda, who made Love to me, imagin'd more than Woman" was first published in 1688 in a book entitled Lysidus, or, The lover in Fashion, being an account from Lycidus to Lysander, of his voyage from the Island of Love: From the French, By the same Author of the Voyage of the Isle of Love; Together with a Miscellany of New Poems, by Several Hands. The first part of the book is a translation by Aphra Behn of Paul Tallemant's French novel, Voyage de l'isle d'amour, published in 1663. The second part of the volume, the "Miscellany of New Poems," includes poems by several authors, including Behn. "The the fair Clarinda" is the last poem in the collection, and closes out the volume. We have based our text on the digital surrogate available through the Text Creation Partnership and the Oxford Text Archive. Page images are sourced from the first edition of Lysidus, provided courtesy of the John Work Garrett Library at Johns Hopkins University.

Editorial Statements

Research informing these annotations draws on publicly-accessible resources, with links provided where possible. Annotations have also included common knowledge, defined as information that can be found in multiple reliable sources. If you notice an error in these annotations, please contact lic.open.anthology@gmail.com.

Original spelling and capitalization is retained, though the long s has been silently modernized and ligatured forms are not encoded.

Hyphenation has not been retained, except where necessary for the sense of the word.

Page breaks have been retained. Catchwords, signatures, and running headers have not.

Materials have been transcribed from and checked against first editions, where possible. See the Sources section for more information.

Citation

Behn, Aphra. "To the fair Clarinda, who made Love to me, imagin'd more than Woman". Lysidus, or, The lover in Fashion, Joseph Knight and Francis Saunders, 1688 , pp 175-76 . Literature in Context: An Open Anthology. http://anthologydev.lib.virginia.edu/work/Behn/behn-clarinda. Accessed: 2024-04-27T15:54:15.476Z

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[TP] LYCIDUS:
OR THE
Lover in Fashion.
 Being an Account from
LYCIDUS to LYSANDER,
Of his Voyage from the
ISLAND of LOVE.
 From the French.
 By the same AUTHOR
Of the Voyage to the Isle of LOVE.
 Together with a
MISCELLANY
OF
New Poems.
 By Several HANDS.
 LONDON: Printed for Joseph Knight, and Francis
Saunders, at the Blew Anchor in the Lower Walk of
the New-Exchange, 1688.
175 To the fair Clarinda, who made Love to me,
imagin'd more than Woman. By. Mrs. B. 1Fair lovely Maid, or if that Title be 2Too weak, too Feminine for Nobler thee, 3Permit a Name that more Approaches Truth: 4And let me call thee, Lovely Charming Youth. 176 5This last will justifie my soft complaint, 6While that may serve to lessen my constraint; 7And without Blushes I the Youth persue, 8When so much beauteous Woman is in view. 9Against thy Charms we struggle but in vain 10With thy deluding Form thou giv'st us pain, 11While the bright Nymph betrays us to the Swain. 12In pity to our Sex sure thou wer't sent, 13That we might Love, and yet be Innocent: 14For sure no Crime with thee we can commit; 15Or if we shou'd—thy Form excuses it. 16For who, that gathers fairest Flowers believes 17A Snake lies hid beneath the Fragrant Leaves. 18Thou beauteous Wonder of a different kind, 19Soft Cloris with the dear Alexis join'd; 20When e'r the Manly part of thee, wou'd plead 21Thou tempts us with the Image of the Maid, 22While we the noblest Passions do extend 23 The Love to Hermes, Aphrodite the Friend.

FINIS.

Footnotes