The Lily
The modest Rose puts forth a thorn, The humble sheep a threat'ning horn: While the Lily white shall in love delight, Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.
William Blake
The modest Rose puts forth a thorn, The humble sheep a threat'ning horn: While the Lily white shall in love delight, Nor a thorn nor a threat stain her beauty bright.
In just four lines, Blake sets the rose and the sheep against the lily. The rose may be called modest, but it still pushes out a thorn; the sheep seems humble, yet it wears a threatening horn. Both carry a hidden warning. The lily, by contrast, lives entirely in love’s delight.
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