“ O, what a tangled web we weave,When first we practise to deceive! ”
Walter Scott, Marmion (1808). copy citation
| Author | Walter Scott |
|---|---|
| Source | Marmion |
| Topic | honesty lies deception |
| Date | 1808 |
| Language | English |
| Reference | |
| Note | |
| Weblink | http://www.gutenberg.org/files/5077/5077-h/5077-h.htm |
Context
“'Twas therefore gloom'd his rugged brow.-
Will Surrey dare to entertain, 'Gainst Marmion, charge disproved and vain? Small risk of that, I trow. Yet Clare's sharp questions must I shun; 330 Must separate Constance from the Nun- O, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive! A Palmer too!- no wonder why
I felt rebuked beneath his eye: 535 I might have known there was but one, Whose look could quell Lord Marmion.'
XVIII. Stung with these thoughts, he urged to speed His troop, and reach'd, at eve, the Tweed,” source
Will Surrey dare to entertain, 'Gainst Marmion, charge disproved and vain? Small risk of that, I trow. Yet Clare's sharp questions must I shun; 330 Must separate Constance from the Nun- O, what a tangled web we weave, When first we practise to deceive! A Palmer too!- no wonder why
I felt rebuked beneath his eye: 535 I might have known there was but one, Whose look could quell Lord Marmion.'
XVIII. Stung with these thoughts, he urged to speed His troop, and reach'd, at eve, the Tweed,” source
Meaning and analysis
