{
 "id": "john-keats/woman-when-i-behold-thee-flippant-vain",
 "title": "“Woman! When I Behold Thee Flippant, Vain”",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "John Keats",
 "poet_slug": "john-keats",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Poems",
 "book_slug": "poems",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 4,
 "container": null,
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1817,
  "venue": "Poems (1817)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/poems008365mbp"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/john-keats_poetry",
  "file": "poetry.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://archive.org/details/completepoetical01keat",
   "https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005261190"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-12"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 42,
  "n_stanzas": 3,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 50,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "Woman! when I behold thee flippant, vain,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Inconstant, childish, proud, and full of fancies;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Without that modest softening that enhances",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "The downcast eye, repentant of the pain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That its mild light creates to heal again:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "E’en then, elate, my spirit leaps, and prances,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "E’en then my soul with exultation dances",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For that to love, so long, I’ve dormant lain:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But when I see thee meek, and kind, and tender,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Heavens! how desperately do I adore",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Thy winning graces;⁠—to be thy defender",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I hotly burn⁠—to be a Calidore⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A very Red Cross Knight⁠—a stout Leander⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Might I be lov’d by thee like these of yore.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Light feet, dark violet eyes, and parted hair;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Soft dimpled hands, white neck, and creamy breast,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Are things on which the dazzled senses rest",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Till the fond, fixèd eyes forget they stare.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From such fine pictures, Heavens! I cannot dare",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To turn my admiration, though unpossess’d",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "They be of what is worthy,⁠—though not drest",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In lovely modesty, and virtues rare.",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet these I leave as thoughtless as a lark;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "These lures I straight forget,⁠—e’en ere I dine,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Or thrice my palate moisten: but when I mark",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Such charms with mild intelligences shine,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "My ear is open like a greedy shark,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To catch the tunings of a voice divine.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Ah! who can e’er forget so fair a being?",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who can forget her half-retiring sweets?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "God! she is like a milk-white lamb that bleats",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For man’s protection. Surely the All-seeing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Who joys to see us with his gifts agreeing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will never give him pinions, who intreats",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Such innocence to ruin,⁠—who vilely cheats",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A dove-like bosom. In truth there is no freeing",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "One’s thoughts from such a beauty; when I hear",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A lay that once I saw her hand awake,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Her form seems floating palpable, and near:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Had I e’er seen her from an arbour take",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A dewy flower, oft would that hand appear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And o’er my eyes the trembling moisture shake.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}