Affection

Read 'Affection' by 'Mary Elizabeth Coleridge' and provide your summary and literary analysis in the comments section below.

Affection by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge

 The earth that made the rose, 
She also is thy mother, and not I. 
The flame wherewith thy maiden spirit glows 
Was lighted at no hearth that I sit by. 
I am as far below as heaven above thee. 
Were I thine angel, more I could not love thee. 

Bid me defend thee! 
Thy danger over-human strength shall lend me, 
A hand of iron and a heart of steel, 
To strike, to wound, to slay, and not to feel. 
But if you chide me, 
I am a weak, defenceless child beside thee.

Form: Lyric Comments

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