“In a word, she so lives that she may die; and leave no cloud upon her memory.”

The ideal of a life lived so as to leave an unclouded name · Character of A Wife in Castara

• Death
• Memory
• Virtue

“To write this, love stole some hours from business, and my more serious study. For though Poetry may challenge if not priority, yet equality with the best Sciences both for antiquity and worth; I never set so high a rate upon it, as to give myself entirely up to its devotion.”

On the proper place of poetry and love amid the demands of serious study and life · Preface to Castara

• Love
• Poetry
• Study

“She sings, but not perpetually, for she knows silence in woman is the most persuading oratory.”

Praising the power of modest silence over constant display · Character of A Mistris in Castara

• Modesty
• Silence
• Women