Why Was Cupid a Boy

William Blake 1757 (Soho) – 1827 (London)



Why was Cupid a boy,
And why a boy was he?
He should have been a girl,
For aught that I can see.

For he shoots with his bow,
And the girl shoots with her eye,
And they both are merry and glad,
And laugh when we do cry.

And to make Cupid a boy
Was the Cupid girl's mocking plan;
For a boy can't interpret the thing
Till he is become a man.

And then he's so pierc'd with cares,
And wounded with arrowy smarts,
That the whole business of his life
Is to pick out the heads of the darts.

'Twas the Greeks' love of war
Turn'd Love into a boy,
And woman into a statue of stone--
And away fled every joy.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 27, 2023

39 sec read
407

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABXB XCXC ADXD XEXE XAXA
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 585
Words 127
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4

William Blake

William Blake was an English poet, painter and printmaker. more…

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