| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | Woman | | By Coventry Patmore (1823–1896) |
| | | A WOMAN is a foreign land, | |
| Of which, though there he settle young, | |
| A man will ne’er quite understand | |
| The customs, politics and tongue, | |
| The foolish hie them post-haste thro’, | 5 |
| See fashions odd and prospects fair, | |
| Learn of the language How d’ye do? | |
| And go and brag they have been there. | |
| The most for leave to trade apply | |
| For once at Empire’s seat, her heart, | 10 |
| Then get what knowledge ear and eye | |
| Glean chancewise in the life-long mart. | |
| And certain others, few and fit, | |
| Attach them to the Court and see | |
| The Country’s best, its accent hit, | 15 |
| And partly sound its Polity. | | | | |
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