Reading the “But”: Structure and Misreading in The True Beauty
A revision class on Carew’s “The True Beauty”. One student’s paraphrase reads: “The poet praises a rosy cheek, a coral lip and star-like eyes, and says that old Time makes them decay. So the poem is about how beautiful women lose their looks.” Another student objects: “But the second stanza says the opposite.” The teacher writes two clues on the board: stanza 1 opens “He that loves…”, stanza 2 opens “But…”. The lines under discussion are: “He that loves a rosy cheek / Or a coral lip admires … / As old Time makes these decay, / So his flames must waste away.” And: “But a smooth and steadfast mind, / Gentle thoughts and calm desires, / Hearts with equal love combined, / Kindle never-dying fires.” The exam question is: “What is the ‘true beauty’ the poet celebrates, and how does the structure of the poem help him make his point?”
1. Show why the first paraphrase is a misreading, using the grammatical subject of stanza 1.
Read the worked answer
The grammatical subject is “He that loves…”, not “I”. The stanza describes what happens to the man who loves only complexion: his flame wastes away because its fuel decays. The poet is not praising the rosy cheek; he is setting out the fate of a love that rests on one.
A better paraphrase. “If a man loves only a rosy cheek or a coral lip, then as Time destroys those things, his passion must die with them.” Notice that the paraphrase now starts with if/then - the stanza is conditional, a case being put in order to be set aside.
The signal. Stanza 2 begins with “But”, which is a hinge of contrast. Whatever stanza 1 appears to recommend is what stanza 2 will correct. A candidate who misses the “But” will write an answer that contradicts itself halfway through - praising physical beauty and then praising the mind.
Exam habit. Circle the opening words of every stanza before answering a “structure” question; connectives carry more marks than most candidates realise.
2. Write the 40-word answer to the exam question, and explain which words in the poem you built it from.
Read the worked answer
Answer (40 words). The poet’s “true beauty” is inward: a smooth and steadfast mind, gentle thoughts, calm desires and equal love. The poem first shows physical love dying as its fuel decays, then turns with “But” to the mind’s “never-dying fires”, so the contrast itself proves his point.
Sources. “Smooth and steadfast mind”, “gentle thoughts and calm desires”, “hearts with equal love combined”, “never-dying fires” for the positive half; “waste away” for the rejected half; “But” for the structure.
Why the structure sentence matters. The question asks two things - what and how - and most candidates answer only the first. Naming the two-part movement (fading fire, then undying fire) is the mark-earning half.
A caution. Do not claim the poet rejects the body or calls beauty evil; he calls it temporary and insufficient on its own. Overstating the rejection is the second commonest error after missing the “But”.
3. A short-answer question asks: “Why does the poet call physical beauty a fire that must waste away?” What must the answer contain to be complete?
Read the worked answer
Complete answer. The fire is a metaphor: a flame needs fuel, and fuel is used up by burning, so a love fed only by cheeks, lips and eyes is consumed by the very Time that supplies it. “Must” adds inevitability - decay is not an accident but a condition of the fuel. The metaphor also prepares the contrast with the mind’s “never-dying fires”, which need no such fuel.
Three things the answer must do. (1) Name the device - metaphor, or extended metaphor. (2) Explain the vehicle: fire, fuel, consumption. (3) State the effect: love based on appearance is self-consuming, and the inevitability is built into the comparison, not added as an afterthought.
What to avoid. “Beauty is short-lived” is the theme, not the answer to why he calls it a fire; it earns no device mark and no explanation mark. Likewise, do not confuse this fire with the “never-dying fires” of stanza 2 - the whole point is that one goes out and the other does not.