Love's Witness

By Aphra Behn 1640–1689 Aphra Behn

Slight unpremeditated Words are borne

By every common Wind into the Air;

Carelessly utter’d, die as soon as born,

And in one instant give both Hope and Fear:

Breathing all Contraries with the same Wind

According to the Caprice of the Mind.

But Billetdoux are constant Witnesses,

Substantial Records to Eternity;

Just Evidences, who the Truth confess,

On which the Lover safely may rely;

They’re serious Thoughts, digested and resolv’d;

And last, when Words are into Clouds devolv’d.

Biography

Aphra Behn, one of the most influential dramatists of the late seventeenth century, was also a celebrated poet and novelist. Her contemporary reputation was founded primarily on her "scandalous" plays, which she claimed would not have been criticized for impropriety had a man written them. Behn's assertion of her unique role in English literary history is confirmed not only by the extraordinary circumstances of her writings, but . . .

Continue reading this biography