"Still to Be Neat"

By Ben Jonson (1572 - 1637)

Ben Jonson had the distinction of being the second most popular playwright of Shakespeare’s era. This poem is an excerpt from the play “Epicoene, the Silent Woman.”

Still to be neat, still to be dressed,
As you were going to a feast;
Still to be powdered, still perfumed; 
Lady, it is to be presumed,
Though art's hid causes are not found,
All is not sweet, all is not sound.

Give me a look, give me a face,
That makes simplicity a grace;
Robes loosely flowing, hair as free;
Such sweet neglect more taketh me
Than all th'adulteries of art. 
They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.

An important piece of context from the play that this poem is that the “art” referenced in the poem is the art of makeup. However, I think that ‘make up’ is an apt symbol for all the ways in which we deliberately alter our image. Clothing, little white lies, and status symbols can all be part of the ‘art’ of presenting ourselves as someone we are not. The poet makes it clear if we spend too much time on our appearance, others will “presume” that something is wrong internally. Why else would we hide behind a facade? The “hidden causes” of why we manicure our image may not “be found” but the mere fact that we do it is what indicates that “all is not sweet, all is not sound.”

On the other hand, the poet finds a woman with an unadorned robe with a simple face and loose hair utterly captivating. He calls it a “sweet neglect” and that neglect enraptures him more than all of the lies of “art.” Why? Because while he admits that makeup may “strike [the] eye” radical self honesty catches his “heart.”

Let’s be clear, I’m not anti makeup. I don’t think that we should never wear nice clothes or that I should never, as my wife says, “put goop in my hair.” But I do think that radical honesty is one of the most attractive qualities in the world. I think we are all attracted to people who don’t hide from the world. I think I am often tempted to use every tool at my disposal to let the world pretend I am a better man than I actually am. Radical honesty might just help me become the person that I want the world to see me as.