Pattern 4: Delight in Disorder

"I see a wild civility; Do more bewitch me than when art is too precise in every part" lines 12-14

This poem was written sometime in the 1600's. During this time period, women were expected to look a certain way. Everything they wore had to reflect proper and modest behavior. It also had to be arranged in a precise and orderly fashion. Women were not aloud to stray from these fashion guidelines like women can today. That is what makes this poem so ironic. The speaker describes a woman that is dressed in chaos and disorder. This woman's time would have never accepted her "ribbons to flow confusedly," and "careless shoestrings." But, the speaker is enchanted by the way she looks. He finds her disorderly dress to be more attractive and appealing than the other prim and proper women.